As the Gulf opens up and Islamic banking increases in popularity, Kuwait’s major banks are looking at opportunities beyond the country’s borders.

The landscape of Kuwait’s banking sector is shifting, providing its participants with new opportunities. Stephen Timewell reports from Kuwait City on the banks’ strategies for growth and profit.
The highly profitable and comfortable world of Kuwaiti banking is now entering a period of radical transition as both market and regulatory forces begin to significantly reshape the industry.
The massive hike in oil revenues, the licensing of not only international and regional banks but also new Islamic banks, as well as Iraq’s huge potential, provide the banking sector with huge opportunities – along with stiff competitive challenges – in a new and very different operating environment.

Sheikh Salem Abdul Aziz Al-Sabah, governor of the Central Bank of Kuwait, talks with Stephen Timewell.

Opportunities abound in Kuwait as its markets open and its banks and institutions become more outward looking. Stephen Timewell reports from Kuwait.

Argentina’s debt exchange plan is in limbo after a court froze Argentine assets on US soil, including $7bn worth of bonds. Sophie Roëll reports from New York.

Banks will benefit from CAFTA if it goes through, as it will increase trade among the member countries but there is considerable political opposition, both in the US and some Central American states.Monica Campbell reports from Honduras.
San Pedro Sula, an industrial hub in Honduras, looks like an average Central American mid-sized city. Diesel-belching buses – mostly filled with workers, many of whom are young and female – dodge potholes while heading to nearby garment factories.

First MicroFinance Bank hopes to become a role model in providing loans to the poor in Pakistan. The bank’s president, Hussain Tejany, talks to The Banker.

Cambodia has made it through a tough time and come out the other side with a respectable degree of political stability – and microcredit lending, which provides much-needed loans to the poor, has emerged as a financial front-runner. Simon Montlake reports from Phnom Penh.

A string of small securitisation deals is encouraging finance companies in Thailand to take a closer look at this class of bond, though hurdles remain, says Simon Montlake.

During the Russian Economic Forum, in April, deputy head of the Central Bank of Russia, Alexei Ulyukayev, who is in charge of Russia’s monetary policy, spoke to The Banker about the bank’s strategy.
Q Will the CBR target inflation as well as the exchange rate this year?
A The CBR has never publicly said it would target the exchange rates.