Middle East

Here’s how to make an entrance at a conference.

The Lebanese authorities said that they met a $1.5 billion bond payment in late November, but with the country rapidly running out of money and in the absence of any clear ability to enact reforms, Euromoney looks at its options.

BayanPay, a digital payments company owned by London-listed Finablr, has received regulatory approval to operate its mobile money platform in Saudi Arabia, as the Kingdom looks to a future without cash.

Saudi Aramco’s intention to list aims to clear up any doubts wealth managers may have about investing on behalf of women, but it also draws attention to the fact that, despite reforms, the full inclusion of women in Saudi society is still a distant reality.

Riad Salamé says that Lebanon has the tools it needs to stave off default, but with protestors demanding fundamental change, analysts question whether a radical overhaul of the country's economy is what is really needed.

Advocating ESG while investing in one of the world’s largest oil companies is an uneasy truth.

Applications to operate banks in Saudi Arabia show that consolidation has not shut the door to new entrants.

Saudi Arabia is pressing on with capital markets reform and its planned IPO of Aramco in spite of drone attacks on its oil facilities that briefly spooked markets. Virginia Furness reports from Riyadh.

It’s not long ago that Kurdistan was on the brink of accessing the international markets. Then came ISIS, strained relations with Iraq and the challenge of being shackled to a state from which the population wants independence. Is Kurdistan ready to approach world markets again?

Israel has become one of the world’s most important fintech hubs, attracting millions in investment from some of the biggest global brands and venture capital funds. Can its start-up culture now evolve to grow large fintech businesses at home?

The deluge of bids for the debut issuers shows how reliant investors have become on primary allocation.

Closure of second investigation brings embarrassing episode to an end.

Working in Beirut in 1974 was a formative experience for Padraic Fallon, the long-serving editor and later chairman of Euromoney, and since then the magazine has set the standard for coverage of this often misunderstood region.

Of all the global corridors of trade and investment, the one between Latin America and the Middle East is among the least travelled.

Less than five years after Euromoney began, the Arab oil embargo gave international finance a shot in the arm and provided an extraordinary windfall to the Gulf, but as the oil boom has repeatedly turned to bust, commodity cycles have laid bare the vacuity of the region’s diversification programmes. Today, with local populations expanding, harder and less stable times could lie ahead if the region does not take more drastic action – even when oil prices bounce back.

For nearly two decades Dubai has acted as the beating heart of Middle Eastern finance, but now its long-dormant rivals are mounting successful efforts to reclaim a piece of the action.

War and revolution have shaped the Middle East’s recent history and have left their mark on the banking sector. Senior bankers reflect on the role crisis has played in their careers and on the region’s financial system.

Islamic finance has come a long way over the past few decades, maturing into a $2.4 trillion industry, but some long-term problems remain and the recent wrangle over a Dana Gas sukuk shows credibility is still an issue.

The region’s banks used to be small, local and low-tech – many still are – but in the future they will be altogether different beasts.

Over 50 years, leaders of Middle East financial institutions have steered their businesses through very good and very bad times, including oil price crashes, rampant property and stock speculation, and war. Some key figures highlight the events they remember most and spell out lessons for the next generation.

Regional difficulties have tested QNB’s resilience, but the bank has managed to consolidate its position at home and maintain its international strength.

The UAE’s largest bank is widely considered to have made a success of its merger and is now looking to realize its international potential.

The Trump administration has begun the process of ostracizing Iranian finance. Bankers there are hanging on to some rare good news, but how long will it be till they are back to square one?

The formation of First Abu Dhabi Bank, widely viewed as a success, has sparked a series of merger announcements. Will scale make for better performing banks? And could cross-border mergers in the region finally happen?

Saudi Arabia’s central bank governor recently gave international banks a clear signal that they will not be punished by a loss of fees for avoiding an investment conference in Riyadh due to public outrage over the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Ken Moelis lived up to his nickname ‘Ken of Arabia’ when he showed up at the Saudi Future Investment Initiative conference in Riyadh in late October in his brave pursuit of future fee income despite the risk of international opprobrium.

The murder of prominent Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi has sparked condemnation of the kingdom’s leadership the world over, but as the dust settles after the Future Investment Initiative, what are the real-world effects, if any, of this crisis on Saudi Arabia’s banking ties?

The murder of a Saudi journalist has led to the withdrawal of international financiers from Saudi Arabia’s state-run investment conference, and compounded growing fears over the kingdom’s leadership.

Two of the world’s most advanced cryptocurrency markets agree to exchange notes on blockchain regulation.

In early 2016, the Middle East’s two largest countries looked set to become the world’s most vibrant frontier markets. Two years on, many bankers doubt that either Iran or Saudi Arabia can live up to these expectations.