The steady growth of sharia-compliant assets suggests banks believe in the future of the sector, but the dismantling of the largest cross-border Islamic window raises questions about whether global banking groups can make a success of the business.
Middle East
Latest articles from United Arab Emirates
Malaysia sets Islamic finance example
November 7, 2012Malaysia leads the world in providing a sharia-compliant environment for savings. CIMB Islamic's Badlisyah Abdul Ghani charts the rise of Islamic finance since its founding in the country 50 years ago.
The Gulf's three-way asset management traffic
October 1, 2012The financial centres of Bahrain, Dubai and Qatar dominate the Gulf's economic sphere and despite some major regulatory changes, the region as a whole is becoming more attractive to international asset managers in search of investable wealth.
Top Arab banks ranking, 2012
October 1, 2012Arab banks offset the turmoil of the Arab Spring and offered a robust performance in 2011 with impressive growth across the key financial indicators. And with minimal exposure to the eurozone crisis, the region's banks are expected to continue their recovery from the global financial crisis.
Structural risks persist in the UAE banking sector
July 24, 2012Banks in the United Arab Emirates are generating decent profits, but there are still significant underlying risks in the operating environment that all market participants need to address.
Citi makes the most of emerging debt volatility
July 2, 2012Citi’s debt capital markets team switched nimbly between reopening Russian markets when risk appetite was high and placing Gulf state sukuk when investors searched for safety.
Qatar plays in the banking big league
June 1, 2012Qatar's infrastructure development projects – set to be worth $255bn over the next decade – and its hosting of football's World Cup in 2022 are set to provide a boon for banks already operating in the world's richest country by GDP per capita.
Middle Eastern banks: a little local insight
May 1, 2012Local banks in the Middle East have continued to perform strongly despite the global financial downturn. The strategies of three such institutions – state-owned National Bank of Abu Dhabi, local-owned Qatar National Bank and retail franchise Emirates NBD – help to explain such a strong performance.
Middle Eastern banks look to move up a gear
May 1, 2012Armed with deep pools of liquidity, many Middle Eastern banks are exploring new avenues of growth, from expanding their regional presence to concentrating on innovation within the Islamic finance sphere.
Crisis forces regulation refocus in UAE
February 1, 2012The events triggered by the 2008 global financial crisis have ushered in a new wave of banking regulation in the United Arab Emirates and led to a greater focus on risk management. While UAE banks now boast some of the highest capitalisation levels in the world, the biggest challenge facing the sector as a whole is that of tightening liquidity.