Adel El-Labban, CEO of Bahrain’s Ahli United Bank, talks to Stephen Timewell about progress on his plans for a pan-Gulf retail network. Most banks in the six states of the increasingly rich Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) have tended to focus on their domestic markets and as a result remained relatively small compared with the region’s enormous wealth. But now a few are breaking through traditional barriers, creating regional networks and realising some of the Gulf’s potential.Bahrain’s Ahli United Bank (AUB) has been a pioneer of mergers and acquisitions in the Gulf and this remains central to the bank’s strategy.
Will the new Dubai International Financial Exchange fulfil the vision of its creators to become hub for the region? Omar bin Sulaiman, director general of the Dubai International Financial Centre, talks to Stephen Timewell.The Dubai International Financial Exchange (DIFX), which was due to open on September 26, is an ambitious attempt to become the leading exchange between west Europe and east Asia.
Stephen Timewell reports from Reykjavik on Iceland’s rapid transformation into a pan-European banking force. Iceland is a truly amazing country. And it is not just the volcanoes, the geo-thermal springs or even singer Bjork that make it unique. Iceland boasts a banking sector that almost doubled in asset size last year, an economy that grew at 5.2% in 2004 and an expected 6.6% this year and a GDP per capita amongst the highest in the world at $40,250 in 2004.
The landscape of Kuwait’s banking sector is shifting, providing its participants with new opportunities. Stephen Timewell reports from Kuwait City on the banks’ strategies for growth and profit. The highly profitable and comfortable world of Kuwaiti banking is now entering a period of radical transition as both market and regulatory forces begin to significantly reshape the industry.The massive hike in oil revenues, the licensing of not only international and regional banks but also new Islamic banks, as well as Iraq’s huge potential, provide the banking sector with huge opportunities – along with stiff competitive challenges – in a new and very different operating environment.