Financial Services
Sharjah is home to four local banks and two insurance companies, with a banking market that is characterised by significant minority government ownership stakes in several key players, as well as a tendency for local banks to eschew the retail and small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) markets in favour of larger corporate and government-owned business. The emirate does not host a capital market of its own, but the government and several local entities are already – or are on the road to becoming – regular issuers of debt and sukuk (Islamic bonds). Thus far, the emirate has issued three sukuk, showing its interest in the instrument as a means to diversify funding sources. This chapter contains a roundtable with Varouj Nerguizian, General Manager, Bank of Sharjah; Sami Rashed Farhat, CEO, InvestBank; Ahmed Saad, Deputy CEO, Sharjah Islamic Bank; and Sheikh Mohamed bin Abdulla Al Nuaimi, Acting CEO, United Arab Bank.
