Current Account Nov 05 How will Emirates NBD sustain profitability amid rapid international expansion? Emirates NBD reported a 4% increase in profit before tax to AED 24.3 billion (about $6.62 billion) in the first nine months of 2026, supported by lend... 655
Current Account Oct 29 Dubai AI Festival puts banking’s agentic AI ambitions to the test At Dubai AI Festival, Mashreq Bank, Zand, FABMISR, HSBC and Network International examined agentic AI, probing transaction authorisation, resilience a... 1694
Weekly Brief Oct 29 US court strikes down debit interchange cap, Revolut launches UK personal loans Retail Finance Weekly: An appeals court ruling on issuers’ incremental costs threatens large US banks’ debit fee income, while Revolut’s UK pers... 1755
Weekly Brief Oct 27 Gulf banks report higher 9M earnings, Mastercard expands payment connectivity in Syria TAB Middle East Weekly Brief: Falling impairments and a disposal gain lift ADCB and RAKBANK, while higher charges restrain Emirates NBD and Saudi Nati... 1050
Weekly Brief Oct 23 Crédit Agricole expands AI agents, Santander reports lower model costs, Google Cloud outage hits banks Financial Technology Weekly: Crédit Agricole expands AI agents and Santander reports lower model costs, while a Google Cloud London outage exposes ba... 1686
Weekly Brief Oct 21 South Africa plans non-bank payments access as Egypt launches Banque du Caire IPO TAB Africa Weekly Brief: South Africa sets a November deadline for its payments authorisation framework as Banque du Caire opens IPO subscriptions and... 1221
Weekly Brief Oct 21 Emirates NBD plans UAE-based OpenAI deployment, Dubai Investments prepares subsidiary IPO TAB Middle East Weekly Brief: Emirates NBD deploys OpenAI onshore, Dubai Investments plans DIP Holding flotation and Gulf bank profits diverge.... 1703
Weekly Brief Oct 15 Ecobank strengthens China-Africa payments as banks pursue new digital channels TAB Africa Weekly Brief: Standard Bank backs OPay, Airtel Money lists in London, Ecobank expands renminbi links and Zambia nears IMF programme.... 3755
Weekly Brief Oct 14 Asian lenders back QNB’s $2.5 billion funding deal TAB Middle East Weekly Brief: QNB’s $2.5 billion loan draws Asian backing, Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank raises equity and deposit competition intensifies.... 1411
Opinion Oct 12 Asia’s local currency bond markets open new funding frontiers Asia’s local currency bond markets, led by Greater China, give sovereigns, supranationals and agencies cheaper funding from new investors and will g... 1206
Weekly Brief Oct 07 BCEAO sets new electronic money transfer rules across West Africa TAB Africa Weekly Brief: BCEAO mandates instant-payment interoperability, Zambia cuts rates 250 basis points and Attijariwafa bank agrees Société G... 1344
Weekly Brief Oct 07 IMF expects GCC economic contraction in 2026 while UAE lending grows TAB Middle East Weekly Brief: IMF sees GCC economic contraction in 2026 as Qatar links its government debt to Euroclear.... 1679
Weekly Brief Oct 01 Mozambique downgraded to CCC as debt-restructuring risk rises TAB Africa Weekly Brief: S&P cuts Mozambique to CCC on Eurobond restructuring risk, Nigeria's yields fall after CBN rate reset and Angola sells Standa... 2271
Weekly Brief Oct 01 Nubank eyes UK banking expansion through potential Monzo acquisition Retail Finance Weekly: Nubank explores Monzo acquisition, Revolut wins Banco Cetelem Argentina approval and China bars non-bank payment institutions l... 2769
Weekly Brief Sep 30 Qatar draws strong global demand for $3 billion sovereign bond TAB Middle East Weekly Brief: Qatar's $3 billion bond draws $7.7 billion in orders as UAE restricts Bank Melli Iran branches.... 1943
Weekly Brief Sep 23 Nigeria resets policy rate to 23% after benchmark diverges from market rates TAB Africa Weekly Brief: The Central Bank of Nigeria reset its policy rate to 23%, Nigeria regained FTSE Russell frontier status and CRDB Bank refinan... 1298
Weekly Brief Sep 23 Qatar Investment Authority and JP Morgan Asset Management form $20 billion investment partnership TAB Middle East Weekly Brief: QIA signed a $20 billion partnership with JP Morgan Asset Management and AWS confirmed unrecoverable cloud losses in Bah... 2037
Weekly Brief Sep 10 Dangote’s $1.6 billion IPO opens a $14.3 billion financing programme TAB Africa Weekly Brief: Dangote Refinery launches $1.62 billion IPO to fund $14.3 billion expansion as AfDB unveils $5.1 billion crisis response.... 1451
Weekly Brief Sep 08 FAB advances tokenised cross-border payments as GCC integration and sukuk issuance accelerate TAB Middle East Weekly Brief: FAB completes tokenised dollar transactions with Citi, Qatar joins AFAQ, and Saudi Arabia raises $3.25 billion through s... 2495
Weekly Brief Sep 02 TDB secures $800 million facility, South Africa reshapes payment system governance TAB Africa Weekly Brief: Funding diversification and payment system reform drove Africa's financial sector this week.... 999
Weekly Brief Sep 01 CBUAE opens urgent Banque Misr examination, Saudi deposit growth outpaces credit TAB Middle East Weekly Brief: CBUAE opens urgent Banque Misr examination, Saudi deposit growth outpaces credit and Qatar's economy contracts.... 1317
Weekly Brief Sep 01 Warsh puts inflation first, Bank of China leads Big Five profit growth The Asian Banker Weekly Brief: Warsh reshapes Fed guidance, Treasury targets Banque Misr, China's banks post profit gains and rate hikes continue in K... 1180
Weekly Brief Aug 26 TNG eWallet adds GXBank credit, Zip reports record BNPL earnings Retail Finance Weekly: GXBank expands lending via TNG eWallet, Zip Co posts record BNPL profit, Experian adds ChatGPT credit scores.... 2366
Weekly Brief Aug 25 CIB commits $300 million to new digital bank, Egypt sets rules for digital financial ID platform TAB Middle East Weekly Brief: Commercial International Bank earmarks $300 million for digital bank yomo following preliminary regulatory approval, whi... 2193
Awards Ceremonies Aug 21 The Asian Banker Middle East Awards 2026 highlight advances in wealth management, SME banking, digital lending and automation Across the Middle East, The Asian Banker’s 2026 Awards reflect banks strengthening wealth management, SME banking, digital lending and business inte... 2493
Weekly Brief Aug 19 Commercial Bank of Dubai advances UAE Open Finance, UAE banking assets reach $1.44 trillion TAB Middle East Weekly Brief: Commercial Bank of Dubai launches multi-bank payment initiation, UAE banking assets grow 17.1% to $1.44 trillion and Coi... 2211
Weekly Brief Aug 12 Kenya keeps rates at 8.75%, Afreximbank extends record EUR 110 million facility to Chad TAB Africa Weekly Brief: Kenya holds its policy rate at 8.75% and approves its first banking-sector ETF, Afreximbank extends Chad a EUR 110 million fa... 1610
Weekly Brief Aug 11 Libya central bank governor resigns, World Bank backs $100 million Syria financial overhaul TAB Middle East Weekly Brief: Central Bank of Libya's governor resigns, the World Bank approves $100 million for Syria's financial-sector modernisatio... 1722
Weekly Brief Aug 05 HSBC exits two retail markets, Standard Chartered transfers Singapore lending portfolio to Trust Retail Finance Weekly: HSBC exits Australian and Egyptian retail banking through sales to Blackstone and Emirates NBD, while Visa agrees to acquire Bi... 3042
Weekly Brief Aug 04 Citi launches trade digitisation solution, Lloyds tests tokenised cross-border payments through Project Agorá Transaction Finance Weekly: Citi's new trade-finance platform, Lloyds' tokenised-deposit transactions through Project Agorá and Wise's direct connect... 2225
Weekly Brief Jul 30 Airtel Money prepares London listing, three African central banks hold rates TAB Africa Weekly Brief: Airtel Africa prepares a London listing for Airtel Money, South Africa, Nigeria and Ghana hold rates, and Angola's Banco de F... 1530
Weekly Brief Jul 13 Chip stocks lose $2.1 trillion, UK puts cloud giants under bank oversight This week's Asian Banker Weekly Brief covers the collapsed US-Iran ceasefire and oil surge, a $2.1 trillion chip selloff, Swift's blockchain payments ... 911
Weekly Brief Jul 07 Standard Chartered completes remittance in 37 seconds as Swift's new payments scheme goes live In transaction finance this week, Standard Chartered completes the world's first live remittance under Swift's new retail payments scheme, as UK banks... 1058
Analysis May 06 ADCB targets technology-led growth as fee income cushions rate headwinds in the first quarter of 2026 Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank (ADCB) posted a strong first quarter of 2026. Ala'a Eraiqat, group chief executive officer, and Deepak Khullar, group chief ... 2723
Weekly Brief Apr 20 War risk reshapes banking outlook The Iran war and Strait of Hormuz disruption dominate global finance this week, as the IMF cuts growth forecasts, US banks post record but cautious Q1... 844
Analysis Mar 06 QNB posts 10% pre-tax profit growth as LNG-driven financing and 2030 strategy reshape its trajectory Qatar National Bank reported 10% pre-tax profit growth in 2025, strengthening its balance sheet and launching a 2030 strategy focused on GCC connectiv... 3552
Awards Ceremonies Nov 07 Ahmed Abdelaal named CEO of the Year in the Middle East for driving digital innovation, international expansion and sustainable growth Ahmed Abdelaal’s leadership at Mashreq Bank has strengthened the bank’s technological innovation, international presence, financial performance an... 5012
