Mandelson calls for closer links between UK and UAE businesses

Dubai: British business must remain a close commercial ally with Dubai and be an active partner in the emirate’s recovery from the current economic slowdown, Peter Mandelson, British Secretary of State for Business said on Wednesday evening.

Speaking at the British Business Group’s welcome dinner in the Raffles hotel, Mandelson stressed that, despite the UK’s strong history of doing business with Dubai, the community must not allow itself to become complacent.

Bad days are over, Al Shaikh says

Dubai: Dubai has begun disbursing a $10 billion (Dh36.7 billion) fund it raised to battle the impact of the global credit crisis and its economy is past the worst of the danger, the emirate’s top finance official has said.

“We are talking about big sums here,” Nasser Bin Hassan Al Shaikh, director-general of the Department of Finance, said in an interview. “The bad days are over” for the economy, which is stabilising and will gradually recover.

Economic growth in Dubai slumped after the worst financial crisis since the 1930s hurt its property, financial services and tourism industries. The emirate’s economy may contract between two per cent and four per cent this year, Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services said in a report on March 17.

The economy still expanded in the first quarter, Al Shaikh said. In February, Dubai sold $10 billion of five-year bonds to the UAE Central Bank, part of a $20 billion medium-term note programme, to help state-affiliated companies struggling to raise cash. That money will be used to meet payment shortfalls and repay loans, the government said on February 25.

“Most of the support will be offered to the property companies since they are the pillars of Dubai’s economy,” Al Shaikh said. The Department of Finance will announce an overall figure for funds paid out and approved for disbursal “very soon” but not the companies that have received help, he added.

HSBC Middle East to re-enter UAE property finance market

HSBC Middle East, Midde East division of the leading international bank, is to re-enter the UAE mortgage market as it has confirmed easing of its proeprty finance rules.

Al Baraka Banking Group to launch biggest Islamic bank in the world

Al Baraka Banking Group, leading Bahrain-based Islamic bank, is planning an alliance to launch the world’s biggest Islamic bank with an initial public offering of $3 billion through a number of initial public offerings and private stock options before the end of this year.

Adnan Youssef, CEO, Al Baraka Banking Group & Chairman, Union of Arab Banks, said, “We have already completed the necessary research for launching the Islamic bank and there are currently discussions between Sheikh Saleh Kamel, Chairman, Al Baraka Banking Group and investors to prepare for the public offering. Under the current economic climate, Sheikh Saleh Kamel did not withdraw or pull back but on the contrary, he is accelerating the finalization process. The Islamic banking industry needs this investment at such times”.

He said that in coming year, he expects that several banks will follow the Islamic banking model due to the growth achieved by these banks.