With private sector credit growth negligible and non-performing loans still high, foreign-owned banks may need to rethink their strategies in Romania.
World
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Saudi Arabia's banks look to build on boom
May 1, 2012With significant potential for growth in the country's real estate, retail and capital markets, Saudi Arabia's banks, which are already highly liquid and rapidly increasing their profitability, are making bold projections for their future successes.
World
/ Middle East
/ Qatar
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.
World
/ Middle East
/ Lebanon
Lebanon's central bank governor looks to maintain stability
May 1, 2012The Lebanese banking sector witnessed slow growth in the first half of 2011, as political paralysis gripped the entire economy. The re-election of Riad Salameh as central bank governor helped boost activity in the latter half of the year, but with the country's political situation and the global economic climate still threatening to trouble Lebanese banks, how does he intend to stimulate growth throughout 2012?
Issuers on the fringes of Europe's crisis
May 1, 2012Although not directly affected by the squeeze facing eurozone peripheral sovereigns and banks, central and eastern Europe is affected by its economic ties with the EU and the prevalence of western European banks in its markets. Philip Alexander hears from a range of European issuers outside the eurozone, including sovereigns, agencies, banks and corporates, on how the crisis has affected them.
World
/ Middle East
/ Lebanon
Lebanese banks shrug off setbacks to stay on path to growth
May 1, 2012Having endured an eventful recent past that includes a civil war, involvement in Middle East disputes and weathering the crisis in neighbouring Syria, Lebanon’s robust financial sector is growing at what the industry believes is a healthy pace. And with its banks highly liquid and well placed for the implementation of Basel III, good economic growth is forecast for 2012.
Mixed blessings of foreign ownership for Black Sea banks
May 1, 2012Levels of foreign ownership vary widely among the banks of the eastern Black Sea countries. While foreign-owned banks went too far, too fast before the crisis, they may be more resilient than locally owned players in a downturn.
Buoyant Turkish banks eye regional expansion
May 1, 2012Turkish banks are following the lead of the country’s vibrant export sector and expanding into new regional markets, but their strategies vary widely.
World
/ Middle East
/ Kuwait
Kuwait's slow progress forces its banks to look further afield
May 1, 2012Efforts by the Kuwaiti government to boost the country’s sluggish economic growth have so far proven ineffective, leaving its banks to look towards the rest of the Middle East and north Africa for growth opportunities.
Portugal's slow recovery continues
May 1, 2012Unlike their counterparts in Ireland and Spain, banks in Portugal are the victims rather than the perpetrators of the country's debt crisis. This should put them in a good position to recover, but limited access to funding and increasing capital ratio requirements are forcing them to change their previously profitable business models.
