Islamic Finance

LEBANON: RESTAKING ITS CLAIM AS A FINANCIAL HUB   By Gordon Platt   Global Finance interviews Lebanon’s central bank governor, Riad Salameh.   Riad Salameh has been Lebanon’s central bank governor for the past 20 years. He is credited with ...

CLIFFORD CHANCE TO OPEN SAUDI PARTNERSHIP   By Gordon Platt   Clifford Chance is the first global law firm to receive approval from Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Commerce and Industry to create a Saudi-foreign legal partnership in the kingdom.   Photo ...

VISIONS OF SPLENDOR   By Gordon Platt   Investor confidence has returned to the UAE, with the former debt-laden emirate of Dubai once again planning major infrastructure projects. Even a new financial center is planned for construction.   Dubai continues ...

THE ALLURE OF ETHICAL BANKING   By Gordon Platt   Islamic banks in the Gulf region are tapping into growing demand for ethical banking and are upping their game in structuring sukuk and wholesale banking services.   Ethical banking services ...

WELCOME TO THE FUTURE   Photo Credits: RITU MANOJ JETHANI/ Shutterstock.com Passengers arriving at Dubai International Airport on Emirates’ double-decker Airbus 380 aircraft taxi up to a new $3.2 billion dedicated terminal, Concourse A, which opened in February. After disembarking, ...

BRIDGING THE GAPS   By Gordon Platt   Jordan has a difficult road ahead as it implements economic and political reforms as part of an IMF loan package and deals with the spillover from unrest in neighboring countries.   Jordan’s ...

SEEKING UNITY   By Gordon Platt   GCC members continue to pay lip service to economic and political union, but experts say much more needs to be done on the military, security and development fronts before that can happen.   ...

SHARING RISK     By Anita Hawser Takaful insurance markets are growing steadily in the Gulf, but the regulatory framework is still developing in some countries.   Taking out car, property or life insurance is second nature in the West, ...

DEFYING EXPECTATIONS   By Gordon Platt   For many, the Arab Spring symbolizes years of painful economic and political reforms ahead. But financial institutions are upbeat about the region’s prospects, noting that markets such as Iraq and Libya continue to ...

DRAGGING A GEOPOLITICAL ANCHOR   By Justin Keay   There were few bright spots for Lebanon over the past year. However, the banking and real estate sectors showed encouraging signs, and a recovery has begun.   Despite their traditional stoicism, ...

SIGNS OF RESILIENCE   By Gordon Platt   In spite of poor global economic and investment conditions, Middle Eastern investment banking looks set for another solid year in 2013.   The outlook for investment banking in the volatile Middle East ...

DUBAI SEEKS ROLE AS CAPITAL OF ISLAMIC ECONOMY   By Gordon Platt Dubai plans to become the capital of the Islamic economy by setting global standards.   In addition to promoting Islamic finance and insurance, the emirate wants to arbitrate ...

CONFLUENCE OF RISK By Vanessa Drucker In this month’s Salon, Global Finance sat down with Karen Elliott House, Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist, Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones & Co vet and author of On Saudi Arabia: Its People, Past, Religion, ...

RESISTANT TO CHANGE   By Gordon Platt   Saudi Arabia is working hard—and spending heavily—to diversify its economy and create jobs for its expanding population through a broad-ranging series of reforms. But these reforms are ruffling feathers in some quarters. ...

GCC LEADERS FAIL TO ADVANCE POLITICAL UNION   By Gordon Platt   When the leaders of the Gulf Cooperation Council met in Bahrain in late December for their annual summit, they postponed an official announcement of the GCC Union proposed by ...

NEW SAUDI MORTGAGE LAW COULD SPUR HOUSING BOOM   By Gordon Platt   The Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency, the kingdom’s central bank, issued new regulations governing the enforcement of foreclosures as part of a new mortgage law that has been ...

MILESTONES: UNITED ARAB EMIRATES   By Anita Hawser   Dubai Mercantile Exchange is on a mission: It wants to take up more space on the screens of futures traders, according to new CEO Christopher Fix, who once sat on the ...

GRAND VISIONS   By Anita Hawser   Qatar has used its oil and gas wealth to finance its global ambitions. But its economy remains vulnerable to ever-present geopolitical tensions.   For a small country, Qatar certainly punches above its weight ...

COMING OF AGE   By Anit a Hawser   Islamic finance is starting to spread within the countries of North Africa with high Muslim concentrations.   Any discussion of Islamic finance usually includes Islamic financial hubs such as Malaysia or ...

RECORD US LOAN BACKS SAUDI PETROCHEMICAL PROJECT   By Gordon Platt   The US Export-Import Bank approved a $5 billion loan to Sadara Chemical, a joint venture of Saudi Aramco and Dow Chemical, to finance US exports needed to build ...