Among the banking sectors in the GCC, that of the UAE has grown to become the largest, and within this dynamic and competitive market the banks headquartered in the nation’s capital have expanded to become some of its most significant players. Over the past year they have demonstrated their resilience to unfavourable global economic conditions...
With a sustained return to positive territory for its main index, a crucial upgrade to “emerging market” status by Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) and a 282% rise in share exchange value in 2013 over 2012, Abu Dhabi’s exchange has had a good year. The developments have generated new optimism regarding the exchange’s ability to...
While the prudent expansion of lending activity is a fundamental principle of banking strategy, and a key indicator of a healthy economy, concerns over an overheating credit environment in the UAE were raised in 2013 by some industry observers. Of particular interest to the local press was a rapid rise in consumer borrowing, with credit cards...
While the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX) continues to formulate instruments aimed at deepening the emirate’s markets, 2013 brought a fresh development that has the potential to radically transform the financial sector. At the end of April 2013, after months of speculation in the local press, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the president...
A reliance on reinsurance providers is a characteristic of the GCC market, with regional players ceding an aggregate of 40% of their non-life premium income in 2011, according to the Qatar Financial Centre’s 2012 “GCC Reinsurance Barometer”. While some of this is directed to local and regional firms, the majority is placed with the more developed...
As the only one of the UAE’s seven emirates to implement a mandatory health insurance system, Abu Dhabi’s health insurance sector has been keenly observed by both the rest of the country as well as its GCC neighbours who are contemplating one of their own. A less successful attempt by Kuwait to introduce a national insurance system some years ago...
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