Kuwait’s insurers have good reasons to look forward to 2010, with signs that the country’s economy is gradually returning to form.
Like many other sectors of the economy, the insurance industry has been affected by the international financial crisis, with most firms seeing a reduction in new business written, a rise in policy [...]
On Sunday in Egypt, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao offered $10 billion in concessional loans to Africa over the next three years, describing China as a “true and tested friend” of the African people.
Wen also pledged to build 100 new clean energy projects for Africa in an effort to support the development of green economies in [...]
Having weathered the financial storm better than most, Oman’s banks are reassessing their strategies and looking for new sources of growth.
Through the global financial crisis, Omani banks have proved remarkably resilient, due to adequate provisioning and low exposure to the toxic assets that caused such turmoil elsewhere. The banking sector has a [...]
On the back of a massive clean up of the banking sector, Nigeria’s insurance regulator, the Nigerian Insurance Commission (NAICOM), is looking to reform its own industry.
At the Nigerian Council of Registered Insurance Brokers (NCRIB) in September, the insurance commissioner, Fola Daniel, called upon delegates to self-police in order to raise [...]
Already a force to be reckoned with, Bahrain’s insurance industry looks set for a period of sustained growth in the future, having seen off the worst of the international economic crisis.
There are some 160 insurance companies and organisations operating in the Bahraini market, of which 25 are locally incorporated insurance firms, a further 11 [...]
Although the insurance industry in Abu Dhabi has felt the effects of the global economy, downturns in regional equity markets and a slump in construction activity, it still presents opportunities for growth.
Over the last six years, Abu Dhabi’s insurers benefitted from the emirate’s rapid economic expansion. Many rode massive waves of petrodollar investment in [...]
Dubai’s government is returning to the open bond market, unveiling plans to raise at least $6.5bn through a mix of conventional and sharia-compliant instruments, looking to bank on renewed investor interest and growing confidence in the emirate.
On October 26, the Zawya Dow Jones news agency reported that the Dubai government had released a preliminary [...]
2009 is shaping up as a transitional one for Nigerian capital markets, with investors still cautiously trading as the effects of slower economic growth and restructuring in the dominant banking sector play out.
In September, the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) clocked up a turnover of 9.05bn shares, with a total value of N66.01bn ($434.2m), with 123,106 [...]
South Africa’s FirstRand Banking Group has reported a 43% decline in attributable earnings from R11,3bn to R6,5bn for the year ended June.
Against a difficult macro background, exacerbated by losses from certain international strategies which the group said had now been terminated, pro forma normalised earnings were down 31% to R7,151bn.
Diluted headline earnings per share [...]