A number of GCC governments, including those in the UAE and Saudi Arabia, have set ambitious clean energy and energy efficiency targets. As the fastest growing region in the world, the GCC’s population is expected to grow more than 53 million by 2020. Substantial amounts of investments will be required to finance the clean energy and energy efficient projects necessary to meet the needs of the future population.
Capital markets allow investors a low-cost alternative
Green bonds, which tie
The MSCI upgrade of Qatar and the United Arab Emirates to “emerging market’ status marked the beginning of increasingly liberalised GCC stock exchanges.
Saudi Arabia’s stock exchange, the Tadawul, is by far the largest securities exchange in the GCC by market capitalisation. It is also the most liquid in terms of daily trading volumes and the most diversified in terms of issuers.
Most recently, The National Commercial Bank (NCB), Saudi Arabia’s largest bank, issued 25 percent of its
Global cyber-attack threats stand at the highest ever recorded level, jumping 14 percent from 2012 to 2013 (Cisco 2014 Annual Security Report). Furthermore, a recent Microsoft Security Intelligence Report found that operating system infection rates in the GCC countries were almost twice the worldwide average, with up to 13 computers out of every 1,000 being infected.
The general lack of cybercrime disclosure has made measuring the financial impact of cyber breaches challenging. Reporting of cyber attacks remain
Following last month’s announcement by the Saudi Arabian Capital Market Authority (the CMA) of its proposal to permit participation by qualified financial institutions directly on the Kingdom’s stock exchange (the Tadawul), the CMA has now published its Draft Rules for public consultation.
The Draft Rules include detailed provisions relating to qualified foreign investor (QFI) eligibility, assessment and approval process of investment applications by QFIs, investment limits on shares and the procedure for applications. The Draft Rules represent a significant
In a long anticipated measure, the Saudi Council of Ministers (which is the highest authority in the Kingdom) issued a resolution on 21 July, 2014 authorizing foreign financial institutions to directly buy and sell stocks listed on the Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul). The resolution also authorized the Saudi Capital Market Authority (the “CMA”) to set the timing and rules for such participation. On July 22, 2014, the CMA announced that it will publish draft rules for foreign
The Sukuk Opportunity
Total Sukuk issuances for 2013 stood at approximately US$120 billion and the Sukuk market is likely to sustain double-digit growth in the coming two to three years with assets in Islamic finance expected to reach US$2.8 trillion by 2015.
The growth of the Sukuk market has allowed investors to diversify their portfolio and invest in credit that they would not otherwise have access to, such as Islamic institutions, which only raise funds in a Shari’ah-compliant manner. The
The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries accounted for IPO issuances valued at US$1.1 billion in 2013, according to Bloomberg. Notably, Qatar Exchange bounced back this year with the successful IPO and listing of Mesaieed Petrochemical Holding company Q.S.C. (a Qatar Petroleum Subsidiary), the first IPO in Qatar since 2010 and the first under the current listing rules of the Qatar Financial Markets Authority.
With momentum returning to local exchanges combined with increasingly favourable market conditions, the GCC IPO
With investment pouring into the education sector, academic institutions have never been in a stronger position to capitalise on costly real estate assets to fuel future expansion. Research suggests the public and private education market in MENA is projected to be worth US$96 billion by 2015, with the GCC region claiming US$61 billion of that predicted value. (Al Masah Capital Report)
The sale and leaseback model is enabling educational institutions to unlock capital.
In the most straightforward form,
Digital Identity Dominates
Having a digital identity for online browsing, transactions and interactions has become necessary to operate in this information age. As more and more lifestyle and business services shift to the digital platform, there has been an explosive growth in personal data capture. The “Big Data” phenomenon has the potential to transform, innovate and optimize entire industries, yet policy makers need to be able to strike the balance between productivity and privacy to protect personal data.
Protecting Personal
The global financial crisis and credit crunch prompted the Capital Markets Authority in Saudi Arabia (the “CMA”) to introduce rules to increase investor awareness of public company financial difficulties. In May 2013, the CMA published draft guidelines and instructions setting out certain rules that apply to public companies when the losses of a public company reaches 50% or more of its share capital (the “Guidelines”). The deadline for the business community to provide comments on the