First Abu Dhabi Bank, formed by the merger between the National Bank of Abu Dhabi and First Gulf Bank, has made history as the first Emirati bank to top The Banker’s Top 100 Arab Banks ranking. Elsewhere, Morocco and Lebanon continue to impress. James King reports.

Egypt’s Commercial International Bank is one of the Middle East and north Africa region's star performers when it comes to returns on assets and capital. James King speaks to the bank's managing director, Hisham Ezz Al-Arab, to discover the secret behind its success.

The CEO of the International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation describes how the organisation uses Islamic finance to bring about social change.

Islamic finance should have a wider global appeal, writes Kuwait's central bank governor.

Global civilisation and prosperity has been built on trade. For this to continue we should expand infrastructure, embrace innovation and foster mutual respect and trust, says DP World CEO Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem.

Refugee camps are home to many small businesses – but this new demographic faces headwinds in getting financial services.

Female entrepreneurs in Africa are proving to be both successful and reliable. So why are they so frequently being failed by banks across the continent when it comes to financing their businesses? James King investigates.

The BRVM, the shared stock exchange for the eight West African Economic and Monetary Union states, is the world’s only unified and regionally integrated bourse. Though it faces several challenges it is ideally placed to lead the further integration of Africa’s stock exchanges, as James King discovers.