Western banks operating in the Gulf are keen to reaffirm their commitment to the region, claiming that recent debt problems in Dubai and Saudi Arabia have not shaken their confidence in the area's financial prospects. Now banks are exploring new strategies and reporting positive news. Writer Daniel Maalo
The capital markets were deemed too fragile to issue a riyal-denominated Islamic bond to help fund Satorp's greenfield refining project in Saudi Arabia, but that doesn't mean this type of asset funding has gone away. Project sukuk are becoming well known in the Middle East as Islamic finance-friendly products. Writer James Gavin