A month ago, First Abu Dhabi Bank said it had looked at Standard Chartered but decided against a bid. Now, it is believed to have changed its mind. What has changed?

Gains written on banks’ equity book values from long dollar positions could be quickly wiped out if borrowers prove unable to service debt at a higher exchange rate.

Across the Middle East and North Africa, Egypt and its banks boast august credentials when it comes to climate and sustainability. But frameworks and agreements are one thing, creating substantive change across an entire financial sector is quite another.

First Abu Dhabi Bank looked long and hard at Standard Chartered, and others will do the same so long as it’s cheap. But any suitor must win the approval of Temasek.

The Middle East’s capital markets were awash with plus-sized IPOs in 2022, with a growing belief in its future.

Noor Sweid, founder of Global Ventures – a young Dubai-based venture capital fund with $200 million of AuM – sees company founders with great businesses starved of finance.

Qatari banks are eager to demonstrate their commitment to sustainable banking amid growing public scrutiny of the environmental cost of hosting the World Cup.

A groundbreaking repo facility for African sovereign Eurobonds was completed in time for a debut trade as COP27 took place. The road to closing the deal was far from simple.

Three-quarters of a century ago, the state of Israel didn’t exist. Today, it is a leader in technologies ranging from plant-based meat to cybersecurity. Huge sums of new wealth are being created by ambitious entrepreneurs, much of it recycled into new ideas by risk-taking investors.

Qatar has spent 12 years and more than $200 billion preparing for the World Cup, which kicks off on November 20. What happens when the games end and the tourists leave?

The World Cup is set to kick off in Doha on November 20 against the backdrop of recession, war, inflation and rising interest rates elsewhere.

Boutique investment bank DAI Magister suggests donor funds could catalyse private equity and debt investment in climate tech, the big theme of COP27.

Islamic finance has a choice: continue on its existing path and consolidate its hard-earned gains in market share, or shake the whole thing up. One proposal calls for an end to the fractional-reserve banking system.

As European and Chinese banks scale back in Africa to cut costs and redeploy capital to core markets, Middle East lenders are happily jumping in to fill the gap, buying assets and putting more boots on the ground as bilateral trade between the regions increases.

First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB) is yet again the deserved winner of the award for the Middle East’s best bank for financing.

Goldman Sachs had a knockout year in Africa. The firm has invested heavily in the region, with a clear focus on a few core markets, notably South Africa, where it has moved to a larger office in Johannesburg and added foreign-exchange and fixed-income products that target corporate and institutional investors. In 2019, it joined forces with Investec to provide domestic equity trading services. A year later, it secured a licence to trade futures from the Johannesburg Stock Exchange.

Citi’s strength across the capital markets, allied to an ability to put its balance sheet to good use with key clients, always put it in contention for the award for Africa’s best bank for financing.

Equity Bank Kenya has been closely engaged in corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives since its launch in 1984. The award for Africa’s best bank for corporate responsibility this year is recognition of its position as a leader in the field.

Even as some wealth managers consolidate their regional presence, focusing on one or two core markets, UBS continues to expand across the Middle East, adding relationship managers and new offices. The result is a growing business and product range attracting more new wealthy clients.

HSBC has dominated the environmental, social and governance (ESG) space for many years, and nowhere is that more evident than in the Middle East. There are many reasons why it deserves to be named the region’s best bank for sustainable finance.

Citi’s commitment to its customers, to innovation and to unveiling new products that adapt to the shifting needs and expectations of corporates and regulators put it easily ahead of its rivals this year.

Best Bank: Banco Angolano de InvestimentosBest Investment Bank: Standard Bank Angola

Mashreq Bank may not be the Middle East’s largest lender, but it is the region’s most digitally innovative and influential financial institution. Its digital journey was already well advanced when Ahmed Abdelaal was named chief executive in late 2019, but since then innovation has gone into overdrive.

Ecobank Transnational brands itself as a pan-African lender – and such it is. Founded in 1985, it now serves millions of customers across 33 sub-Saharan African markets. And with so many multinational banks having made their excuses and departed, it is now arguably more important and integral to the region’s smaller businesses than ever before.

M&A in Africa last year was the classic one-trick pony, in that all the action took place in a single market, South Africa. Despite that, the competition for this award was fierce. It came down to a straight fight between Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, with the former walking away with the prize in yet another impressive year.

The banks in each market that have excelled across a range of core banking activities over the past 12 months.

It can at times feel hard to find worthy causes and initiatives that National Bank of Bahrain (NBB) doesn’t foster and fund.

No other private bank in Africa can compete with Standard Bank, the region’s largest by assets and earnings. The Johannesburg-based lender has a dedicated on-the-ground wealth management presence in 15 countries, including Nigeria, Ghana and Kenya, employing 449 industry professionals.

Egypt’s Commercial International Bank (CIB) has emerged as not only a very good bank for small and medium-sized enterprises but also a key innovator in a sometimes overlooked area of finance.

It has been a busy few years for First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB). A change at the top of the institution last year saw Hana Al Rostamani ascend to the position of group chief executive, the first woman to lead the bank.