Issue 16

Managing Director Shashank M Co-Founder & CEO Shankar VS Chief Editor Madhusmitha V Patil Editor

Ujal Nair

Assistant Editor

Medhaj Nair, Harish Rajulu Kavitha N D, Tasleem Majumder

Head of Operations

Kevin Harris

Head of Production Shank Mendez

Head of Research

Laura Edwards

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Leo Morgan, Alisha Taylor, Jane Sanders, James Smith, Jason Brown, Lily Jones, David Johnson, Stella Grace, Sara Watson

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R Ravi Kumar

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Agnes Wong

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NOTE FROM

EDITOR

A Platform to Highlight and Honour the Best in Business

International Business Magazine has always been in pursuit of delivering the best to the investors, the entrepreneurs, the decisionmakers of an organization and the government bodies. This magazine has always been about aiding the best investment decisions and inspiring the best business practices. Our Annual Awards Ceremony is a testament to our dedication to contemplate the latest trends, analyse the biggest disruptions and honour the top achievers. International Business Magazine navigates through several industries, including Banking, Finance, Technology, Healthcare, Retail, Real Estate, Education, and others to seek the trendsetters and to analyze their business acumen.

Right from Daily News Headlines and Weekly Headlines on our Social Media Platforms to inculcating advanced Audio-Visual content that serves the content perfectly on all display devices. Our Team of Writers and Researchers have been piercing through thousands of companies and millions of employees to truly honour the ones who deserve it.

This Special Awards issue carries Meinhardt on the cover and a special story on how the Singapore-based engineering company has been expanding its portfolio across the world. We came across some really insightful information about the status and the forecast for the Global Data Center industry. It will be a real eye-opener to know about the effects of data consumption on the environment.

Besides the cover story, our team of writers and researchers have put the spotlight on the current status of several sectors and highlighted the achievements of some of the impressive companies that are part of those sectors. We hope that these articles would inspire you to your next big business venture or help you with your current entrepreneurial dilemma.

International Business Magazine extends its warm welcome to its ‘International Business Magazine Awards 2022’ Ceremony at Atlantis, The Palm in Dubai. We wish October 29 becomes a memorable and hopefully, a big turning point of all our lives.

Madhusmitha V Patil Chief Editor

Be sure to check out our website at www.intlbm.com

Connect with us on Twitter: @ibmag_magazine and Facebook:@intlbm Instagram: @intlbm.

Omar Shahzad

CEO of MEINHARDT

Articles

Introducing Broker Program grows exceptionally boosting the earning potential for brokers

Vietnam envisions a ‘Neo’ revolution in Banking

Essentials of Investment in Heritage Properties of Egypt

A Booming Banking industry is a big Gift of Nile in 2022

Egypt has around 39 active banks today with the Central Bank of Egypt being the monetary authority of the Arab Republic of Egypt. According to the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE), these 39 existing banks in Egypt are categorized as commercial, non-commercial, public and private sectors. As of June 30, 2009, public sector commercial banks (three banks) accounted for 38.2% of all loans. Generally, vast majority of these banks operate as commercial banks, even though there are a few specialized banks, catering to specific sectors (i.e., agriculture and real estate).

The Egyptian banking industry has not only pulled through the pan demic but also accounts for the lowest non-performing loans. The pandemic led to a huge boost to the digital banking platforms in the MENA region.

Globally-acknowledged stability

As the Egyptian banks entered the pandemic in a good shape, the new banking act passed in 2020, has served the capital requirements for new mergers and acquisitions and boosted financial inclusions across the country. Apart from pushing access to ATMs and point of sale ma chines, fintech companies are playing a major role for promoting mo bile wallet and payment options in the country.

Several rating agencies have certified the Egyptian Banking system as fairly stable. This is largely because of a stable government profile that helps the banking system balance profitability and loan book pressures against sound liquidity.

Standard & Poor’s reports from April and November 2020 kept the country’s credit rating at B while the Fitch report confirmed the rating at B+ in July 2020. Moody’s ratings were stable at B2 in September 2020.

Keeping Matters Public

The Egyptian banking sector has been dominated by the public banking players for a very long time, which further delayed the banking reforms and its implementations. The government-owned banks are largely investing in government securities with short maturity, which does not boost the bank’s in centive to develop the capacity to serve small and medium private enterprises.

According to the latest reports from CBE, the Egyp tian economy has gained significantly after March, when it cut the interest rates by 300 bps. This brought the overnight deposit rate, overnight lend ing rate, the rate of main operation, and the discount rate to 9.25 percent. The same report has also re vealed the country’s Net International Reserves (NIR) achieved a record increase of more than USD 45.5 billion at the end of February 2020. This is what helped Egypt withstand the COVID-19 pandemic.

A major factor that has been instigating non-per forming loans in the country are the lack of proper

legal framework to legitimise collaterals. However, with more stringent reforms towards financial inclu sion taken, CBE has reported its reserve money in crease by EGP 205.2 billion or 20.8% to EGP 1192.9 billion at the end of June 2022.

Leading the Bull run

International Business Magazine recently an nounced 3 award titles Most Trusted CSR Bank Egypt 2022, Best Retail Bank Egypt 2022, and Best Funding for Green Project Egypt 2022. The titles were given to Cairo-based Government-owned Na tional Bank of Egypt (NBE). In terms of assets, de posits, loans, bank-capital, total number of branches and employees, it is one of the largest in the coun try. As per 2007 reports, it accounted for 23 percent of the total assets of the Egyptian banking system. In the same year, it accounted for about 25 percent of the total deposits and 25 percent of the total ad vances and loans.

National Bank of Egypt has always been in the fore front for its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)

initiatives. As per reports, the bank has spent about EGP 2.6 billion in 2020, which is practically 19.9 per cent of its net profit. In another report, it has been recorded that banks are allotting huge amounts to wards climate action projects.

NBE, with its 122 years of banking legacy, has dis closed a whopping USD 150 million for the period of 2016-19 to serve the climate action projects. Its first sustainability report that came out in 2020 highlighted the bank’s performance beyond profit and in alignment with Economic, Environmental, So cial and Governance indicators. NBE has voluntarily dedicated almost 20 years towards green initiatives for energy efficiency and renewable energy. It has also cooperated with Egyptian Environmental Af fairs Agency (EEAA) and managed the finance of the Egyptian Pollution Abatement Program (EPAP). The EPAP program tackles industrial pollution and pro moting the concept of cleaner technology in order to mitigate GHG emissions (reducing 670,000 tons of CO2 in 18,000 industrial facilities) in cement, iron and chemical industries. NBE was the Apex Bank in one of Egypt’s largest initiatives by the Ministry

of Environment and the EEAA. Grant funds reached 7.17 million euros.

With major banks of Egypt like the NBE experienc ing more than 100 percent growth in its retail gross revenue, the banking sector in Egypt is poised for a major growth story in the coming years. The in creasing popularity of digital banking services and contactless transactions is increasing the retail cus tomer base.

With better apprehension of risks and proper regu latory and supervisory framework from the Central Bank of Egypt, the risk of failures for the Egyptian banks have been steadily declining. The banking su pervision can be improved through rigid corporate governance in banks and management skills.

Introducing Broker Program

grows exceptionally boosting the earning potential for brokers

With a size larger than the stock market, Forex market is the larg est financial market in the world with an average trade magnitude of USD 6.6 trillion every day. Lon don, New York and Singapore have emerged as the largest fi nancial centres in the world. The United Kingdom takes the top spot with an enormous contri bution of 43.1% followed by the United States with 16.5%. The United Kingdom, United States, Hong Kong, Singapore and Japan are booming as the key players in the industry reporting 79% of the forex trading worldwide.

The Brokerage Industry is expect ed to prosper in the next five years with lucrative business activities propelling this commission in dustry across the globe. In the era of online trading, Introducing Brokers(IB) has profoundly im pacted the Forex Market, creating opportunities for traders looking for brokers and then leading to clients. While the Future Com mission Merchant (FCM) buys or sells forex contracts or any orders on futures in exchange for money or other assets, Introduc ing brokers (IB) helps in bringing

clients onboard reducing the vol ume of work and also increasing the efficiency of the process.

The United States continues to dominate the currency market as majority of the trade is reported to be converted from USD. Hav ing the most flexible financial markets and the most transpar ent corporate governance are some of the factors that drive the demand for this currency. United States Dollar to Euro(24%), Jap anese Yen (17.8%), Great British Pound (9.3%), Australian Dollar (5.2%), Canadian Dollar (5.2%), Chinese Yuan (3.8%) and Swiss Franc (3.6%) are the top most traded currency pairs in the world. 88% of the foreign exchange hap pens with USD involved in the pairs.

As exciting as it may sound, Fo rex trading has its own risks re sulting in loss of money with the investors. Rapid changes in the currency markets and high lev erages make it difficult to predict Forex. It is reported that 99% of forex traders are unsuccessful in making profits trading for more than four continuous quarters.

Inside this massive industry, YaMarkets is one of the lead ing financial service providers in Asia with a well established user friendly trading platform for trading currencies, commodities, and indices. Round the clock cus tomer assistance and nicely de signed training programmes for clients makes it one of the ideal platforms for trading services.

Partner powered Financial Inclusion

Yamarket’s Introduce Broker (IB) program has been doing phe nomenally well with a significant increase in clients across Asia. Under the program, a broker in troduces a client to Yamarkets for which the person receives a commission in return. The com pany has made the process free to sign up and can be done from anywhere across the globe.

Yamarkets has put up three ac counts which are, the Classic, Pro and VIP accounts under which the individuals get paid accord ing to the types of account they may have. It is USD 10 per lot on a classic account and USD 2 per

lot on pro and VIP accounts. The individuals get paid further every month in the loyalty program where they receive 10 percent for making USD 500-15000, 15 percent for making USD 15,00030,000 and 20 percent for mak ing more than USD 30,000. Open ing an account, getting access to the marketing materials, bringing in clients and earning commis sion are the three simple steps to becoming a YaMarkets Partners.

Backed by its exceptional Human Resource Management team, Yamarkets delivers the best solu tion available in the industry. The liquidity sources are monitored round the clock and operational costs are economical.

Solid FX, EA Trading, MAM Ac counts and Copy Trading are some of the great assets of Yamarket. Forex, Crypto, CFDs (contract for differences) on big US Stocks, and CFDs for regu lar stocks are some of the best trading instruments provided by YaMarket. The company has transformed into a fully digital en tity with the entire process from account opening to the rest, in volving IB, being done entirely online. The Forex company takes no commissions, Inactivity fee and withdrawal fee, making it an ideal and customer friendly plat form for brokers.

Features that grab IB(alls)

Demo Trading, Specialized train ing, Educational Videos, and Eco nomic Calendar are some of the educational and research servic es offered by YaMarkets. MT4, MT5 and WebTrader are some of the widely known platforms on which YaMarkets offers its ser vices on. Inclusive of Live chat, the company’s customer service is available 24/7 making it a con venient experience for individuals engaging into the Introducing Brokers program (IB).

Safety has been a top priority for YaMarkets with well established customer safety protocols from MISA (Maintenance of Internal Security Act) and VFSC (Vanuatu Financial Services Commission) and various stages of data secu rity, assuring secure financial ac tivities for customers.

expected to have an enormous growth in the future with 7.5% CAGR worldwide by 2026 . With USD 4 trillion per day in 2010 to USD 6.6 trillion per day in 2019, Forex has kept the graph soar ing. The increase in information for trade such as strategies, ex pert advisors, analysis, and many more has been contributing to the increase of participants. Further more, internet technology, vola tility, advanced trading systems, globalisation, international trade and risk management attribute to the future growth of forex.

With a minimum deposit of just USD 10, trade can be done on today’s most widely used MT4 and MT5 platforms using YaMar kets’s seemless app available on playstore, app store and Micro soft store for windows.

Tracking the Rise of Forex

Forex market, the only finan cial market operating 24/7 is

Since the number of partici pants are expected to rise, the participant’s reaction to events (War, natural disaster) that influ ence the trends will be quick and tighter regulation will restrict a certain number of brokers in the business. Indistinctive trends are bound to cause the participants even harder to speculate. As high as the Forex may rise, it will continue to carry the substan tial amount of risks involved, al though it is wide open for making a great deal of money.

Omar Shahzad CEO, MEINHARDT

Humans have been evolving their habitational pref erences from living in secluded self-sufficient loca tions to co-dependent advanced connected closeknit communities that support large populations in a limited space. Today, we call them as cities. A modern city can work smoothly only if it has estab lished a fully-functional transport and infrastructure system. It can sustain a large and thriving popula tion if facilities like medical, sanitation, energy, con nectivity, industry, education and other parapherna lia demanded by modern citizens are met. In that sense, what could be the future expansion plans of cities like Singapore, Dubai, London, New York and more?

Many of the major metropolitan cities mentioned above are fairly managing to meet the needs of a majority of their dwellers. However, a rising popula tion is the biggest concern for every city in this world today. According to a recent census from the US, New York has over 9 million residents spread across its 302 square mile area, making it one of the most densely populated cities in the world. The popula tion growth is largely unsustainable in major cities across the world. The COVID-19 pandemic, howev er, did inspire a significant amount of mass exodus to adjacent towns.

Efficient Data Centres meet the Global call for Eco-friendly Data Consumption

Towns turning into new Promised Land

With most of our cities overpopulated and a large chunk of city-dwellers opting for less congested but well-connected townships, the need for new urban development solutions are mushrooming. Govern ments are pushing for more infra budget for devel oping these under-developed, under-equipped town ships that could deliver similar civic conveniences as the big cities.

The newly preferred hotspots for urban dwellers are tasked with an unusual challenge today. They not

only have to address their past and current vulnera bilities in terms of infrastructural developments but also cope with new innovative demands of the mi grant big city dwellers. This could range from, bigger hospitals with more advanced equipment to more sprawling parks and education institutes that meet the current industry standards. The diversity of amenities and the new inflow of skilled service pro viders in these developing towns is stressing highly on the network infrastructure.

A Digital Solution for the new Digital Space

In this age of globalization, where our generation boasts of making the world smaller and faster, highspeed connectivity and efficient communication platforms play a huge role. Modern communication systems have evolved beyond the possibilities of a human to human interaction and are now leveraging an opportunity for an autonomous communication platform for machines.

With the advent of 5G technology, several new in frastructural developments have been inspired, es pecially those that are inspired by IoT (Internet of Things) and Machine Learning. Higher bandwidths of connectivity have made it possible to witness technical marvels such as health monitoring sys tems in hospitals, weather monitoring systems, smart agriculture systems, home automation, factory supervision and even traffic management systems. 5G-powered handheld devices and equip ment-mounted devices are communicating with

the infrastructure around us and amongst them selves to execute efficient courses of action with out our interventions. However, this digital interac tion amounts to a huge amount of data storage and analysis, which is why Data Centers are becoming popular today.

With the massive growth of the IT industry in the 90s, the demand for a centralized facility that could permit shared IT operations and equipment became inevitable. This led to the birth of Data Centers. Mod ern Data Centers have the capacity to compute and store data for almost every enterprise in a small de veloping country. They have the power to analyze and develop analytics and applications, which is now powering our powerfully booming digital econ omy. The same digital economy is also becoming a critical aspect of our tier-2 and 3 cities, the new preference of urban dwellers.

Cost of Data Consumption

While we might read this article, browse some vide os, make a video call or learn about climate change online, for free; it does come at a cost to the environ ment. While Data Centers have played a vital role in putting up a strong resilience against the onslaught of the apprehensive COVID-19 pandemic, it has been putting out a large chunk of carbon footprint all these years. As per reports, Data Centers across the world account for more than 2 percent of the global energy supply and consume power that could facilitate any modern developed nation of our time. They are said to be contributing to almost 2 percent of the total global greenhouse gas emissions.

Global data services is expected to grow to USD 60.05 billion in 2022 at a CAGR of 13.85%. The mar ket is expected to further grow to USD 107.13 billion by 2026. While North America is the largest region in the data center services market, Asia-Pacific re gions are predicted to be the next big market. Some

Decarbonizing Data Centers

The major power-consuming component in a data center are the HVAC (Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning) systems. During the 90s, Data Centers were reportedly working at 15 to 20 degree celsius. This meant heavier and more powerful HVAC sys tems leading to heavy power consumption. Current advanced server technology systems are now ca pable of running at much higher temperatures of about 35 to 38 degree celsius. However, concerns of reliability and performance restrict the operation al temperature of most Data Centers to 21 and 26 degree celsius.

This is where innovative Data Center Designers like Meinhardt come in. Meinhardt is one the most es teemed engineering companies in the world. In over

reports suggest that at this rate, the carbon emis sions from the communication and the IT sector could catch up with the aviation, automobile and en ergy sectors in the coming years. It is even predicted that by 2040, data centers could account for more than 14 percent of the world’s emissions. With more than 8 million data centers across the globe, the data centers could have the fastest-growing carbon footprint across the IT sector. Considering the fact that even though a little less than half of our world’s population is still offline, the energy consumption of data centers seems to be vaguely doubling every four years.

Considering all the above factors and with a stern intention of making the operations of data centers completely carbon neutral, data center designers are coming out with strategies that could make it power-efficient and cost-efficient while extending its life cycle.

65 years, it has established 51 offices worldwide and operates with over 5,000 employees across the globe. Based out of Singapore, it is one of the largest independent engineering consultancies in Asia. One of its most ambitious projects - Telin Data Centre in Singapore - is a 5 storey data center with a gross floor area of 20,000 sq.m. It was designed and built to meet Uptime Institute’s Tier-3 and Tier-4 stand ards incorporating a multi-tier design capable of meeting every operational requirement. With Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) of 1.5 and IT Power con sumption of 15.75 MW, this data center has received a Green Mark Platinum sustainability rating. This is also the world’s first Tier III and IV co-certified data center. With a construction cost of SGD 200 million, the Telin Data Centre was completed in 2016.

World-saving Data Centers

Accomplished Data Center designers like Meinhardt have incorporated a 3-prong approach in the design of Data Centers. They use some of the latest tech nological disruptions in the AEC (Architecture, Engi neering and Construction) industry like BIM(Building Information Modeling) and Virtualisation. This tool aids in coordination and clash detection, which fur ther reduces the margin of error. In their quest for the most power-efficient data centers, the engineers at Meinhardt have incorporated some of the most advanced cooling solutions such as ‘immersion cooling’ and ‘Direct to Chip’ cooling. As part of its sustainability commitments, each design focuses on giving control to the owners and operators to analyze power transparently and optimize it while identifying and addressing the inefficiencies at the design stage itself.

Some of the tier-IV Data Centers from Meinhardt include Telehouse CCC Data Centre (Hong Kong), HSBC Data Centre (Hong Kong), Credit Suisse Data Centre (Singapore), and Global Switch Data Centre (Hong Kong). Some of the tier-III rated Data Centers from Meinhardt include Jebel Ali Data Centre (Du bai), Kizad Data Centre (Dubai), Global Switch Data Center (Singapore), Pacnet New Data Center (Hong

Kong), Sila Data Center (Thailand), Tellus 2 Modular Data Center (Thailand), GH Bank Data Center (Thai land). Other notable mentions are Government Data Centre Complex (Hong Kong), Barclays Data Center (India), Telstra Data Center (Australia), and Mel bourne University Datahall 1 & 2 (Australia).

The Data Center industry is continuously upgrad ing with systems incorporating newer technologies with lower power consumption. As per studies, on average 47 percent of data centers are refreshing their systems every 1-3 years and another 28 per cent every 4-5 years. This again is turning out to be a huge provider to the market. The upgradation process mostly involves the replacement of server sub-systems such as compute, memory, fans, pow er supplies, chassis and many more. The replace ment or upgradation time of each component varies as per the lifecycle and the availability of the latest innovations. The speed of technological innovations is so rapid that memory modules are changed in every 2 years while the power supplies are upgraded every 8-10 years. Sub-system level upgrades is help ing the data center industry to reuse longer life cycle elements, which would further reduce the amount of e-waste production.

The Central bank of Egypt reports that in the first half of 2022 the Egyptian Banking Industry has touched a remarkable net profit of EGP 56.868bn. With the de liberate adoption of strategies and policies, the finance sector of Egypt has seen a significant growth in recent years. Liberalisa tion of the forex system and the initiation of several investment projects has fueled the growth of the industry.

The Central Bank of Egypt claims that an increase of EGP 624bn has come from local banks alone other than that of the central bank, soaring from 9.413trn as of march 2022 to 10.037trn as of June 2022. CBE further elaborat ed that cash balances in banks added to EGP 76.532bn, balance of banks added to EGP 1.608 trn and the balances with banks abroad added to EGP 222.074 bn as of June 2022.

The Egyptian Banking sector is categorized into public, private and a joint venture summing up to 40 banks. The Central bank

of Egypt governs the 40 banks industry with an exception for Arab National Bank, Nasr social bank and the national investment bank.

The Egyptian banking industry made its digital transformation ever since the events of the pan demic and the country is now witnessing a surge in contactless transactions, thoroughly modern izing the banking experience.

Riding the Digital Wave in Banking

Over the years, the Cairo based Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank (ADIB) Egypt, one of the leading financial service providers in Egypt, has made a momentous impact in the Egyptian banking sector with its innovative banking services and digital initiatives making the best use of modern technology for a pleasant banking experience.

Adding to ADIB Egypt’s technol ogy use, the bank introduced a gadget called ‘Beat’, a device used for contactless transactions.

The device can be worn around the wrist and brought closer to the POS terminals to initiate the transaction. This is one of the revolutionizing products intro duced by ADIB Egypt.

Driving its digital transformation, the Egyptian bank partnered with SimpliFi in August 2022, a cards as service (CaaS) platform for the banking industry, driving the digi talization of payments for Egyp tian Companies. Furthermore, ADIB Egypt reportedly seeks to introduce scheme-enabled pre paid cards for companies, col laborating with Simplifi’s CaaS platform. Building on digital solu tions, the collaboration will make it possible for customers to man age their own card programmes and can have the cards issued independently.

Giving its customers an ideal banking experience, ADIB Egypt introduced a unique Shari’a com pliant cashback card programme where every transacations are bound to credit cash back to its millions of card users.

Championing the 2030 Vision

ADIB has been a key driver in succeeding Egypt’s 2030 Vision based on the nation’s econom ic growth, it raised the capital to EGP 30m in January 2020 for its newly launched Abu Dhabi Islam ic Consumer Finance (ADI-CF) with the aim to provide speedy financing services to its wide range of consumers in Egypt.

In September 2022, ADIB launched a salary advance prod uct called ‘Yusr’ which enables customers to access up to 50% of their net salary before the des ignated day of the payday, which is based on the Murabha struc ture, furthering their aims to pro vide sharia compliant financial services. The procedure can be done using ADIB’s deliberately designed mobile app.

The president of the Egyptian Association for Islamic Finance has reported that Islamic Bank ing in Egypt produced a revenue of EGP 443bn as of June 2022, an increase in the growth rate of

13.5% (52.8bn) summing up from June 2021. ADIB Egypt secured second place touching a turnover of EGP 98.7bn, earning a share of 22.3%.

With the increase in tech integra tion, Egypt’s prepaid card market escalated a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 14.9% be tween the period of 2017 – 2021. Speculating the next four years, the figure is expected to see an increase of 16.2% by 2026 which is USD 5 billion from USD 2.75 bil lion as of 2022.

The US based Mastercard has been steadily broadening its reach in the Egyptian prepaid market. The American company further expanded its footprint in May 2021 signing a partnership with the Egyptian payment app Telda to introduce prepaid cards to Egyptian customers. The dig ital card needs no bank account and instant transactions on both ends is the fundamental feature of the app. The partnership be tween the Egypt headquartered fintech company Dopay and Bank

ABC Egypt in August 2021 is one of the few notable collaborations for digital payroll solutions lately.

The Central Bank of Egypt has been instrumental in bringing dig ital fluency to the financial organ izations across the country, not to mention its revolutionary intro duction of contactless payments from mobile phones. Egyptian Banks have been teaming up with fintech companies to bring digital payroll solutions lately.

Analysis shows United Arab Emirates (UAE) insur ance sector had a promising growth in 2021 with the general insurance market generating a massive revenue of USD 2 Billion. Equity of shareholders in the United Arab Emirates - listed insurers touched AED 19.8 billion with an increase of 10.4% from AED 18 billion in the year 2020, which again had an ex ceptional growth with an increase of 3.9% from the year 2019.

UAE has claimed 36th rank globally with respect to Gross Written Premium (GWP) and is the largest insurance market in the MENA region as reported in the year 2020. The largest insurance market in the MENA region has the largest market share in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) with a Gross Written Premium of 43.7 % in the region. Rising ac tivities in the nation’s corporate sector especially in

investment, beneficial immigration policies and the introduction of new standards in regulation are the key contributors to the growth.

Followed by UAE, Saudi Arabia has the second larg est insurance market in the Gulf Cooperation Coun cil (GCC) and is anticipated to grow at a Compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 1.6% largely piloted by its tremendous infrastructure activities in accel eration towards its vision 2030 based on economic transformation.

With a share of 4.3% in 2020, Kuwait is expected to be the fastest growing insurance market at a CAGR of 5.3%, although it has a relatively smaller market in the region. Rebuilding its insurance regulation unit and investments in mega projects are the key driv ers in propelling growth.

Fiddling with Success

UAE based Fidelity United, one of the leading insur ance companies in the country has had a glorified 46 years of success in the insurance sector, offering a wide range of insurance services comprising Home insurance, Individual medical insurance, Motor in surance, Travel insurance, Engineering insurance, Personal accident insurance, Motor fleet insurance, Group health insurance, Liability insurance, Marine insurance, Property insurance, and SME (Small and medium-sized enterprises) products. While Fidelity United is headquartered in the Opus Tower, Dubai, it has expanded its branches in Abu Dhabi, Fujairah, Ras Al Khaimah and Sharjah.

Having been in the market since 1976, Fidelity Unit ed is a joint venture between ‘United Insurance Com pany’ (Known formerly) and Lebanon based ‘Fidelity Assurance and Reinsurance SARL,’ established in November 2018. Expanding its diversified portfolio to Lebanon, Fidelity United has been introducing innovative insurance solutions commended by its millions of consumers and has enjoyed meteoric growth in recent years partly owing to its proactive risk management techniques.

Insuring Growth, Fulfilling every Oath

In March 2022, Fidelity United announced a rights issue of Dh 60 million while the last capital injec tion was only in 2017 with Dh 100 million. With two rounds of capital injection in four years, the UAE based company has emerged as a key player in the insurance sector.

Furthermore, Fidelity United has ranked 16th based on the analysis of gross premium in the 4th quarter of 2021. Evidently, the partnership has seen pros perous growth since the signing in 2018, the firm’s market furthered as its pet insurance plan called ‘MyBuddy Pet Insurance Plan’ has become a bright spot in the sector. It is reported that Fidelity United’s pet insurance is the most trusted and a leading pet insurance in the United Arab Emirates. The product

covers vet expenses, theft/straying, death benefit due to injuries or illness, third party liability and a one month waiting period.

Adding to its exceptional insurance products, Fidel ity United’s home insurance product called Manzil has been coming up really well in the market. With just 100 AED per year, the policy covers Home con tents, Accidental damage to contents, Personal Be longings, Building property, Domestic helpers, and more. Manzil pretty much covers everything in one policy.

Building on partnerships to modernize its business with technology, Fidelity United signed a strategic partnership agreement with UAE headquartered Square One Technologies to automate its insur ance processes. Development of digital fluency and adopting the configuration of bots and bot runners using AI driven web services are the objectives es tablished in the partnership. In appreciation for boosting competitiveness in the insurance sector as seen in recent years and placing the company in an advantageous position, Fidelity United has been awarded ‘Fastest Growing General Insurance Com pany UAE 2022’ by International Business Magazine. The title was conferred in recognition of its constant triumph in the insurance sector with its wide range of insurance products.

UAE’s insurance market is expected to have an ac celerating growth at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 4.1% during the forecast period of 2020 to 2026. Large scale events like Expo 2020, its booming tourism sector, and the world cup 2022 in the neighbouring Qatar are likely to further the growth. Fueled by the pandemic, insurance compa nies in the country have transformed their services with robust innovation strategies by adopting mod ern technology for a convenient consumer experi ence, as witnessed lately. Moreover, the government of UAE has been constantly spending on infrastruc ture and has an outstanding amount of financial reserves.

Vietnam envisions a ‘Neo’ revolution in Banking

The Finance Industry of Vietnam has kept a solid growth over the years and is expected to reach USD 336.4 million by the end of 2022 touching an annual growth rate of 66.3%. During the forecast period of 2022-2029, the indus try is speculated to produce a Compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 40.5% with revenues rising from USD 336.4 million as of 2022 to USD 2,886.4 million by 2029

.

The Financial Organizations in the country have been advancing technologies such as Artificial In telligence and digital strategies reshaping their service systems,

especially in the insurance sector.

The country’s digital transforma tion is fueled by the Government of Vietnam which has introduced a meticulously designed program incorporating plans and objec tives aimed to pull it off by 2025.

In 2021, the Banking sector in Vietnam produced an excep tional EPS (Earning per share) of 28.3% increase by the end of the year with high credit growth of 15.1%, 14 basis points (bps) in the net interest margin(NIM), an increase in fee income of 26.7% and has seen a significant reduc tion in cost to income ratio from

36.3% as of 2020 to 32% by 2021.

As promising as the figures are, the EPS growth is expected to reach 23.2% by 2022 and 20.7% by 2023. However, the net inter est margin (NIM) is anticipated to reduce by at least 10bps owing to the increase in short-term depos its this year.

Banking beyond Boundaries

As part of the promising bank ing industry of Vietnam, Vietnam Public Joint-stock Commercial Bank (PVcomBank) has emerged as one of the leading retail banks in Egypt driven by the mission “Bank with no boundary.” It has

been widely reported as one of the fastest growing enterprises in Vietnam. Right since leading the bank with a charter capital of VND 9,000 billion and assets worth over VND 100,000 billion, the Vietnamese bank has shown remarkable growth in the last nine years. It has expanded to 113 transaction offices today backed by its massive 4,700 em ployees and its total assets have reached VND 200,000 billion. PV comBank has been offering its financial services to Oil and Gas organizations, power and the in frastructure sector, powered by its broad range of exceptional products and services.

The Hanoi based Retail Bank has been lauded for its excellent customer service to its millions of Customers across the nation. PVcomBank has been awarded ‘Best Bank for Customer Services in Vietnam 2022’ and ‘Most Trust ed Retail Bank Vietnam 2022 ’ by International Business Magazine. The title was awarded based on the satisfaction expressed by its wide range of customers in Viet nam, sourced by the dedicated research team from the Interna tional Business Magazine

With its well established prod uct ecosystem, the ‘Bank with no Boundary’ has reshaped its

quality of banking services for a convenient banking experience for its customers. In the early September of 2022, PVcomBank, jointly with Vemanti Group, a fin tech company launched the ‘Pilot Digital Lending Program’ for small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). The program incorpo rates deliberately designed prod ucts such as unique financing op tions for US bound exporters to easily access short term loans at affordable interest rates. The pro gram will be made available en tirely in the PVcomBank branch es and can also be availed on its digital platform, by the end of the pilot period. Providing solutions

for liquidity challenges, strengthening the SMEs and introducing innovative and effective financing pro grams for Vietnam’s business firms have been the core objective of this partnership.

Joining the Digital Bandwagon

Furthermore, PVcomBank has been instrumental in Vemanti Group’s ambitions of providing neobanking solutions to small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs), digitizing its processes, and introducing tai lored banking services. Adding to joint ventures, PV comBank teamed up with India based Nucleus Soft ware Exports and Vietnam headquartered IT service provider CMC-TS in July 2022 for digitizing loan origination procedures and retail product prolifera tion, following which the Nucleus software exports soared to 8.09% (Rs 442). By employing nucleus software’s highly flexible loan processing platform FinnOne Neo, PVcomBank established objectives to bring in speedy products and services to provide an

ideal banking experience to its customers. PVcom Bank is expecting an increase in consumer loans by at least 2 times within the next 5 years, owing to the partnership agreements.

Making the best use of technology, PVcomBank’s service integration backbone was carried to cloud by CMC Telecom in August 2021, a Vietnamese tel ecommunications provider, while onboarding Ama zon web services for hosting. This was a crucial de cision made by PVcomBank for greater stability and

Rising activities in Construction sector surges the demand for Insulation Solutions

It is estimated that the global thermal insulation market is worth 28 billion as of 2022 and is expect ed to touch USD 35.3 billion by 2027 with a CAGR (Compound annual growth rate) of 4.7%.

The thermal insulation market, in terms of materi als, largely comprises glass wool, stone wool and plastic foam. It is expected that plastic foam will lead the market during the forecast period followed by roof insulation solutions. The surging usage in external wall insulation, external façade insulation, cavity wall insulation and sandwich panel attribute to the growth of plastic foam while the increasing activities in the construction sector such as residen tial buildings, commercial, industrial, healthcare, ed ucational, and so on,attribute to the growth of global roof insulation market.

market reached USD 4480.02 million in 2021. The market size of stone wool insulation (also known as Rockwool) registered USD 1.4 billion as of 2020. A fibrous material made from molten rock offers numerous properties such as thermal insu lation, fire resistance, acoustic applications, sound proofing, etc. widely used in industrial, construction sectors and transportation.

Insulation from Inflation based Recession

Since the residential construction and commercial & industrial construction sector saw a significant mar ket fall in the year 2020, the demand for global glass wool insulation has declined. Striving to ease its po sition, it has made a momentous growth in 2021. It is reported that the global glass wool insulation

Kuwait headquartered Kimmco-Isover, a joint estab lishment between France based Saint-Gobain and Kuwait based Alghanim industries, one of the global leaders in mineral wool insulation has claimed an advantageous position in the insulation business after competing in the industry for more than 43 years. The insulation company’s services include HVAC insulation, Façade, Partition, OEM and other insulations and applications. While Kimmco-Isover leads the insulation market in the middle east, its vast portfolio ranges from CertainTeed in North America, Celotex in the United Kingdom, IZOCAM in turkey and KAIMANN in Germany

The factory in Kuwait produces Glass Wool Insulation while the fac tory in Saudi Arabia produces Stone wool insulation. As the demand for eco-friendly and energy efficient building materials is snowballing in the construction sector, Kimmco-Isover has been developing and supplying that demand with its stone wool insulation products which ideally fits into the current requirement. Efficient, sustainable and fire resistant are some of the features Kimmco’s stone wool insulation products possess. Reaching up to the consumer’s demand, it comes in a variety of shapes such as slab, wired mat, roll, pipe section and loose wool, produced for commercial buildings, industrial estates and residential buildings

Specializing in acoustic insulation and thermal insulation, Kim mco-Isover also improves indoor air quality and offers a wide range of features including fire protection and moisture control. All its glass insulation products are made out of recycled glass constituting 86% of

it and only a minimal amount of waste is produced. Its insulations solutions include thermal, fire, corrosion and sound resistance used in an array of industrial applications in oil & gas, power generation and process industry. Furthermore, the company offers Cryogenic tanks to operate pipelines, boilers that withstand high temperatures and other unique types of equipment as per the demand of the project. Cryolene is another one of its revolutionary products. It has undertaken the project for SeaWorld Abu Dhabi, one of the first re search centres committed to marine life in the United Arab Emirates.

In appreciation of its innovation excellence, Kimmco-Isover has been awarded ‘Insulation Technical Innova tion of the Year 2022’ by International Business Magazine.

The global glass wool insulation industry is expected to touch a striking 5217.18 million by 2028, a CAGR in crease of 2.2% from USD 4480.02 million in 2021. The recovery in the construction sector of residential and non-residential buildings attribute to this growth. In addition to that, the demand for enhanced heating and cooling has been constantly rising due to the increasing requirement for better comfort levels in the building with the use of efficient and effective systems.

By the year 2030, the stone wool market is expected to reach USD 2.2 billion, a rise in a CAGR (Compound annual growth rate) of 4.7% projected in the period of 2021 to 2030. The rapid growth in the construction sector is the key driver in propelling growth.

UAE Income Investment: Trends and Policies

Financial Independence is of the utmost importance in individu als’ lives. Accomplishing finan cial goals has become crucial for anybody in today’s scenario. To become financially independent in the UAE, one can invest mon ey, but it requires awareness for investment. Income from invest ments such as real estate and stock sales are the major sourc es among the non-oil sectors in the UAE. The UAE’s real estate industry, or property investment market, is rapidly expanding, and it is a critical component of the UAE’s economy. The proper ty investment market in the UAE incorporates office buildings, res idential houses, hotels and retail sectors.

The market scenario

The commercial real estate in dustry deserves attention since it has been impacted by changes in the economy. In contrast, Abu Dhabi’s figures were 1.01% and 1.05%, respectively. Demand for office space has remained high, and grade A rentals in Dubai and Abu Dhabi both saw increases of 4% and 7%, respectively.

Statistics indicate that produc tivity has been slowing down in Dubai and Abu Dhabi from 2014 to 2015, growing just by 1.02% in Dubai and 1,004 in Abu Dha bi. Residential supply is also extremely crucial. In 2015, rent

performance was significantly better than sales performance. Prices are also important to note; each square metre costs about 16,000 AED. Similarly, two-bed room apartments are now 4% more expensive to rent.

Noteworthy is the retail supply, which, according to statistics, has been growing significantly in the first city and has 3,107 sq.m.

of gross leasable area (GLA) available. The information that is currently available suggests that rents have stayed consistent, and most businesses have employed strategies like discounting to re main profitable.

Recent real estate developments in the UAE, like the increase in de mand for office spaces, and the rising trend in rentals, indicate the optimism of market attitudes. Other significant events include the UAE cabinet’s acceptance of a new housing strategy and Du bai’s introduction of title deeds for fractional property ownership.

The UAE is known for its largerthan-life real estate developments and the property investment in dustry in the UAE is massive. Be hind this massive industry, there are innumerable property dealers who have contributed to making the industry reach a significant level. One such powerhouse is Capital 3PM.

Industry Elements

Capital 3PM offers secured, asset-backed fixed income concepts to institutions, highnet-worth individuals, and so phisticated investors. The com pany provides its clients with a suite of fixed-income loan notes. It has developed a distribution network that incorporates both the retail and institutional space. The capital raising of the compa ny includes both debt and equity. Capital 3PM, broadly the UAE and UK’s most prolific asset manag ers, advises on raising capital in the overseas capital markets. Moreover, it offers a suite of non-market affiliated opportuni ties and Fixed Income to Private Clients. The company has made investments in Dubai in 2003, stu dent housing in the UK in 2008, and storage and distribution for Amazon in 2013. With a strict due diligence process, Capital 3PM has only approved 4 of the over 1,000 goods that make up our present array of offerings. Com pany products have a 100% track record of paying out both the cou pon and the principle at maturity.

Capital 3PM also secured few exceptional awards from leading business-tech magazines such as International Business Mag azine. The magazine awarded Capital 3PM with the ‘Best Ethi cal Fixed Income Investment in the UAE for 2022’. The company is worthy of being entitled so as it’s always on the urge to aid the

investors with the best invest ments. For the last 18 years, the company has been catering to and supporting its clients with the best equity raising mandates. The company has a track record of 100% success in delivering the clients’ fixed capital raising objectives. The company always perceives potential opportunities for fixed income investors look ing for income. The fixed income products of the company are de signed with one core objective in mind: to preserve and develop in vestors’ capital and security.

Future Prospects of the Market

During the projection period, 2022–2027, the residential real estate market in the UAE is antic ipated to grow at a CAGR of more than 8%. Experts predict that res idential real estate prices in the UAE will continue to rise in 2022, supported by positive economic reforms. A project launched in Dubai will boost the market. The city is humming with ongoing new construction and is prepared for the expanding population, whether they be apartments or villas. In 2022 and the years to come, a tremendous number of new apartment complexes, villas, and townhouses will be built. All of them will be in accordance with Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid’s 2040 Urban Master Plan, which intends to reshape the emirate and make it more sustainable and connected.

Saudi Arabia leads with new reforms in MENA Logistics sector

Stretching its services globally, the market size of Saudi Arabia’s logistic industry stands at USD 18 bn today. The economy of Saudi Arabia is largely fueled by its robust transportation activities in the Kingdom. Additionally, KSA (Kingdom of Saudi Ara bia) has introduced several economic reforms in the industry accelerating its progress towards its de velopment program ‘Vision 2030.’ The program dic tates reinforcing KSA’s economy by relying less on its oil and laying special focus on logistics, health,

education, infrastructure and more.

With a fleet of estimated 40,000 trucks, the freight network of Saudi Arabia comprises a vast network operating in eight countries across the Middle East and Central Asia. Reported to be the largest logis tics market in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), just back in the year 2020 the transportation and in frastructure projects were heavily invested with an estimated USD 15 billion.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia sits on the fourth spot competing with at least 30 countries based on the performance of maritime vessels and cargo han dling with respect to tanker loading speed, as re vealed by the UN Conference on Trade and Develop ment in 2021. The performance is largely driven by the constant adoption of ever-evolving technologies such as drone and accurate tracking of shipments..

The nation has caught the eyes of companies

across the world as the recent rise in partnerships suggests. One such important one is the recent news that UK based Classic Automotive Reloca tion Services has partnered with Jeddah headquar tered Saudi Logistics Services in October 2021 for car shipments by land, sea and air through Jeddah, Madinah, Dammam and Riyadh. More such partner ships are expected this year with booming industrial activities across the world that demand Saudi Ara bia’s seamless logistics services.

The Pride of Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia headquartered Bahri, one of the leading logistics and transportation companies in the world has revolutionized the global logistics and shipping industry with its quick-footed in novation and adoption of sophis ticated technologies simplifying its operations worldwide. Known as the national shipping carrier of Saudi Arabia, Bahri has scaled its operations in logistics, oil, chem icals, desalination, dry bulk and ship management. With an esti mated 3,500 diligent employees, Bahri has expanded its business worldwide with offices in Saudi Arabia, India, UAE and USA. Founded in 1978, Bahri has built a massive portfolio that includes owning one of the world’s larg est Very Large Crude – oil Car riers (VLCCs), one of MENA re gion’s largest chemical tankers, 9 dry bulk carriers, 95 vessels, 28 chemical tankers, 6 multipurpose ro-ro vessels, 10 product tankers and the company serves around 150 ports across the world.

Growing as Market Demands

In September 2022, Bahri signed a Memorandum of Understand ing (MoU) with Germany based MOSOLF group, one of Europe’s leading system service providers for the automotive industry. The MoU will pave the way to structure and develop automotive logistics in Saudi Arabia and eventually

expand across Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) regions. Further more, the collaboration aims to implement sustainable innova tive solutions to accelerate the automobile supply chain network across the entire scale of its busi ness by bridging unique resourc es and expertise from both firms. An ambitious vision announced by Saudi Arabia to manufacture 300,000 cars by 2030, Bahri eyes to supply its logistics services along the progression.

Bahri also signed a Memoran dum of Understanding (MoU) with Saudi Arabia Company for Electronic Information Exchange ‘Tabadul’, one of the leading pro viders of digital and financial solu tions to logistics sectors, to boost innovation in logistic operations based on information sharing. With acceleration towards Digital Transformation, the alliance will advance the efficiency of logis tics and shipping sectors that include Port Community System (PCS) and trade lane traffic.

Advancing on its developments, Bahri made a major announce ment that it has moved ahead of phase one of its Fleet Per formance Monitoring Center (FPMC), dedicating the center for data and analytics during crew deployment involving various logistic operations. The global logistics company aims to use FPMC as a centralized hub to support Bahri’s vessel operations

by sending high frequency data from cargo to the receiver at the Monitoring Center, and con trolling operations through alarm monitoring, and navigation sys tems in each of the vessels.

In appreciation of its impressive logistics services in recent years, Bahri grabbed two awards recent ly at International Business Mag azine..The titles conferred are ‘Best Logistics Solutions Provid er Saudi Arabia 2022’, and ‘Most Sustainable Fleet Management Company Saudi Arabia 2022’.

The market size of Saudi Arabia’s logistics industry is projected to grow at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 6.7 % dur ing the forecast period of 2020 to 2025. Bringing in new strategies to the sector, the government of Saudi Arabia’s Transport General Authority is expected to lead the market, dominating with its ro bust activities in sea, land and rail transportation.

Emerging as a global hub for transportation, Saudi Arabia stays in an advantageous posi tion for business as it furthers with foreign direct investment, policy reforms, tax regimes and more. The nation is also looking forward to issuing licenses to or ganizations that seek full fledged operations in foreign logistics.

Vertical and steady movement in the Graph of Kuwaiti Banking Sector

Kuwait is home to the seven largest banks in the world, as per recent findings. The year 2021 was a major comeback for the Banking Sector in Ku wait, registering a massive revenue of KD 42.3 bln since its stalled growth in 2020. Analysis shows, the banks in Kuwait have loaned an estimated KD 8.9 billion, recording a growth rate of 27% during the pe riod 2016 to 2021.

as seen in February 2022 from 12.864 billion in February 2021. The loans issued for the purchase of securities too furthered with 15.43% touching KD 2.910 billion as analyzed from February 2021 to 2022.

Kuwait shines in the GCC

As reported in April 2022, the credit score of the banks in Kuwait soared in February 2022 register ing KD 43.162 billion, a growth of 1.04% from 42.714 billion in January 2022. The rise in the figures is the highest recorded in history, based on monthly anal ysis. Moreover, its annual growth showed a 7.87% increase that amounts to KD 3.162 billion and KD 43.162 billion in total as of February 2022 from KD 40 billion in February 2021 as per the analysis given by the Central Bank of Kuwait.The consumer loans lent for automobiles and durable goods saw sub stantial growth of 14.03% (KD 1.611 billion) as seen from February 2021 to 2022. However, it recorded a drop of 0.01% (KD 300,000) in February 2022 with KD 1.837 billion from KD 1.838 billion in January 2022.The housing loan grant to the consumers of Kuwait increased by 13.5% touching KD 14.6 billion

As per reports, with an increase of 2.74%, depos its touched KD 45.46 billion in February 2022 from KD 44.251 billion in February 2021. In specific, the deposits of Kuwaiti dinars in the private sector rose to KD 35.726 billion as of February 2022 from KD 34.709 billion in February 2021, an increase of 2.93%. Moving ahead to deposits in foreign curren cies, it reached KD 2,065 billion in February 2022 with an increase of 24.3% from February 2021.

Reportedly, the Banks in Kuwait have emerged to generate the highest revenue annually in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) during the first quarter of 2022. Getting meticulous, Kuwaiti banks have gained profits at a growth rate of 33% while its 15% for Qatar banks, and 21% for UAE banks. With a cost risk of 84 basis points, the growth of lending loans has reached 10% and revenue has advanced to 5% in the first quarter of 2022.

Sharia Approved Financial Growth

Bahrain headquartered Ahli United Bank B.S.C, one of the leading financial institutions in Kuwait has been constantly offering its banking services with its sophisticated Islamic finance products comprising Corporate banking, Retail banking, Private banking, Treasury, Investments, Wealth Management and Treasury. As the first bank to be established in Ku wait, Ahli United bank has been constantly introduc ing simplified Sharia compliant financial solutions with streamlined procedures and well established security posture, tailored to the needs of its millions of customers. The bank has a vast portfolio with upscaled operations in Kuwait, Egypt, United Arab Emirates, Iraq, Libya, Al hilal life, and the United King dom from its base in Bahrain.

A relentless pursuit of Digital transformation has re shaped AUB’s processing as it brings in sustainable innovations for customer experience (CX) banking. More investments in data analytics are in the cards for AUB as the bank looks forward to analyse the spending trends, and understand customer senti ments that would aid to provide its consumers an ideal banking experience.

In July 2022, Ahli United bank announced that the bank touched KD 20.3 million net profits during the first half of 2022 with an increase of 12.3% from KD 18 million in the first half of 2021. Additionally, the

bank registered a total operating income of KD 46.4 million during the first six months of 2022 from 46.3 million during the first six months of 2021. In particu lar, Ahli United bank has been doing phenomenally well in Kuwait and plans to strategize its growth to stay ahead by enhancing its banking experience with affordable rates.

Owing to its effective technology backed bank ing operations and embedding sustainable ethics & adopting strategies for green banking as a CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) bank, Ahli United Bank grabbed two awards recently at International Business Magazine. The titles conferred were ‘Best Banking Technology Kuwait 2022’, and ‘Best CSR Bank Kuwait 2022’.

Future lies in Coopetition

Since the pandemic, it’s a new era for the Kuwaiti banking sector as it has been steadfast that fintech and cloud computing is the future of its banking ser vices. The Kuwaiti banks have faired well so far with the digital transformation and look forward to digitiz ing most of its operations in the coming years. Key decision making for business continuity, proactive approach towards data security, formulating contin gency plans, acquisitions, partnerships and keeping pace with ever - evolving technology, pretty much de fines the future of the Kuwaiti Banking sector.

Essentials of Investment in Heritage Properties of Egypt

Heritage is the accumulation of civilization and cul tural wealth over time, and urban heritage are the visible evidence of that civilisation. Recent years have seen a rise in the importance of investing in ur ban heritage in general and sustainable investment in particular. By revitalising the ideals of society and

heritage, investments in heritage sites hope to boost economic activity. Investment is regarded as one of the most crucial elements in the field of urban con servation because it plays a role in determining the importance of protecting and choosing its policies to handle heritage.

Reviving the Lost Economic Heritage

Property investment or real estate investment in dustry is specialising in the restoration of heritage buildings in Egypt. A collection of exceptional build ings, streets, and regions showcase Egypt’s modern architectural history. They are regarded as national wealth and constitute Egypt’s contemporary urban cultural civilization. The modern architectural lega cy in Egypt is governed and protected by two Egyp tian laws and their legislations. As per the Egyptian General Authority for Investment, real estate is one of the most essential sectors contributing to the economic growth of Egypt, affecting more than 90 construction-related industries. The real estate in dustry in Egypt is considered a labour-intensive in dustry as it employs almost 8% of the labour force. Egypt’s real estate investment value rose steadily since 2001. The real estate industry has taken into consideration to rebuild the historical buildings to boost the economic sectors of the nation. The in dustry has taken steps to revitalize the heritage of Egypt along with investments in other real estate sectors. It contributes to or finances ongoing pro jects. The industry analyses the market and also owner circumstances in the target places, purchase and finance homes there, and then benefit revenues for these properties, on a monthly or annual basis.

In terms of real estate, investments in Egypt have typically gone well during economic downturns too. Even though Egypt has a high rate of inflation, many people look to real estate as the most lucra tive form of investment. The real estate market in Egypt has been booming for the past ten years due

to the constantly shifting needs of the public and the ongoing development. The real estate industry of Egypt specialises in repurposing historic structures to serve as important elements of urban infrastruc ture. The market assembles a portfolio of buildings that, when reincorporated into the community, might bring cultural and social advantages to various com munities. The industrial efforts are concentrated on redeveloping these historic sites into fully function al properties with a symbiotic relationship towards their contemporary surroundings in order to transfer into the future. The government of Egypt is also aim ing to reconstruct the historic belongings of various companies like that of Al Ismaelia.

Economic Potential of Old wine in New bottle

Al Ismaelia is a real estate company in Downtown Cairo, Egypt. By bringing mixed-use quality designs that emphasise on enhancing the lives of the gener al people through thriving creative and cultural pro jects, the company hopes to restore the vibrant spir it and waning historic magnificence of Downtown Cairo. It has gradually been reconstructing up to 23 buildings in the centre of Cairo. The company works in a way that it takes the structures, negotiate rent agreements with the people or businesses renting the apartments, do the necessary interior and exteri or improvements, and then simply rent the buildings to the private sector. So far, they are enjoying good returns on their investments.

Al Ismaelia was founded in 2008 with the intention of conserving Downtown Cairo’s and West El Balad’s architectural history and experience while restoring

the area’s classical magnificence. The company’s mission is to restore the long-lasting glory of Down town Cairo by providing new investment options, delivering a rare chance in the Egyptian real estate market, and upholding the confidence of the current investors in the area. In order to encourage people to live, work, shop, and socialise in the Downtown area, the company places a strong emphasis on rejuve nating the neighbourhood by fostering and expand ing the arts and cultural sector.

Al Ismaelia also won few outstanding awards due to its remarkable works in building the history again. In ternational Business Magazine has handed over the “Best Real Estate Investment Company Egypt 2022” and the “Most Innovative Commercial Redevelop ment Company Egypt 2022” awards to Al Ismaelia for its excellent performances and breakthrough in its fields. The organization currently owns 23 iconic heritage properties in the city’s centre and aspires to become a top real estate investment firm that buys, manages, restores, renovates, and leases historic structures to offer a modern experience that com bines Downtown’s historical legacy and contempo rary culture.

Recently, Al Ismaelia invested 69 million EGP to re construct Downtown Cairo’s Iconic Building, the old French Consulate and launched Consoleya; a joint venture between Al Ismaelia for Real Estate Invest ment and the renowned entrepreneur Hanan Abdel Meguid. Al Ismaelia intends to preserve Downtown Cairo’s history and bring a mixed-use quality idea to structures that are 150 years old. This will signifi cantly advance Egypt’s 2030 goal of attaining all-en compassing sustainable development.

Heritage powered Economic Growth

For both individuals and communities, investing in the preservation, renovation, and continuous use of historical buildings and other historic locations in Egypt provides financial advantages. Increased property prices, more tax collections, more jobs, re juvenated neighbourhoods, and economic prosperi ty can all result from heritage conservation.

The part of the real estate investment industry work ing in the heritage buildings of Egypt is continuously striving to preserve the country’s cultural and tradi tional heritage. Moreover, the property investment industry is growing fast with all its appliances. The property investment industry is growing rapidly along with Egypt’s population that is growing by 2 million people a year. There is a continuous demand for residential property at all price points. Additional ly, both domestic and international investors have a high need for commercial and administrative space, notably in the New Administrative Capital. The hous ing market in West Cairo and Sphinx Airport will also benefit from the openings of new museums in Egypt. This is consistent with Egypt’s ambitions to advance and grow within this region.

Time for Due Credits to All the Lasting Bonds

Bond credit rating, or simply credit rating, in the world of investment, is the credit wor thiness of government or corporate bonds. It is distinct from an individual’s credit score. Financial service companies called credit rating agencies (CRAs) provide credit ratings, or analysis about a security’s or issuer’s creditworthiness. These are the agencies that pub lish the ratings of the bonds that are utilised by investors to determine the probability that the debt will be repaid.

Investing as simple as ABC

The credit rating agencies or the managers aid the investors in making a comprehensive understanding of the debt repayment and reducing the risk by mitigating the capital and loan loss exposures. Many of the rating industry firms have implemented their own innovative rating procedures so that actual results are as accurate and usable. For example, based on the possibility of default, the ratings hierarchy assigns let ter grades to debt securities and their issuers, with AAA denoting the best creditworthiness and the lowest risk of default, and D denoting an issuer that has declared bankruptcy. Investment grade bonds are those that are rated AAA, AA, A, or BBB, whereas speculative or junk grade bonds are those that are rated BB, B, CCC, CC, or D. Investment grade refers to anything that has a rating between AAA and BBB and can easily repay debt. Debt with a rating between BB+ and D is seen as speculative and has a hazy future. The risk of default increases with lower ratings, with a D rating being the worst. In this way, the industry manages to rate the credit of the bonds and helps investors develop a thorough understanding of the debt payback.

Making Investments Accurate

In 1970, in the US market, the credit ratings sector started implementing some significant adjustments and advances. Investors purchased subscriptions to each rating agency’s publications, and issuers did not incur any costs for the research and analy sis that were necessary in the creation of published credit ratings. Credit rating companies as a whole started to understand how much objective credit ratings benefited issuers: they lowered the costs of raising capital and raised the market value of a security issuer, which made it easier for issuers to access money. The decision to charge issuers of securities fees for rating services was made across the industry due to the expansion and complexity

of the capital markets as well as the rising demand for statistical and analytical services. Between 2017 and 2022, the UK market size for rating agencies increased by 2.3% per year on average, and it in creased faster than the overall economy of the UK.

The rating agency industry, along with the credit bureau industry of the UK, secured the 13th place in the Administrative and Support Service Activities industry as per the market size in the entire UK.

Bonding with the Market Analytics

The credit rating market is dominated by three large agencies, which account for 95% of the global mar ket, and the top firm among them is Moody’s Inves tor Services. Moody’s and a few other companies

together dominate 80% of the international credit rating market. Leading providers of credit ratings, research, and risk evaluation include Moody’s Inves tors Service. Approximately 5,000 non-financial cor porate issuers, 4,000 financial institutions, 18,000 public finance issuers, 11,000 structured finance transactions, and 1,000 infrastructure and project finance issuers are included in the firm’s ratings and analysis of debt, covering more than 135 sovereign nations. A division of Moody’s Corporation, which had USD 4.2 billion in revenue in 2017, Moody’s Investors Service has offices in 42 countries and employs about 12,300 people globally. The firm is also listed in the 2021 Fortune 500. By measuring potential investor loss in the event of default, the company uses a standardised ratings system to rate the creditworthiness of debtors. Moody’s Inves tors Service assigns ratings on debt instruments in a number of bond market areas. These consist of financial institutions such as banks and non-bank finance firms; government, municipal, and corpo rate bonds, managed investments such as money market funds and fixed-income funds, and asset classes in structured finance. The securities rated by Moody’s Investors Service range from AAA to C, with AAA being the highest quality and C represent ing the lowest quality.

The company offers prime solutions for credit risk analysis and management to its clients or investors. It is the leading company among the three compa nies mentioned above. Due to its excellent perfor mances in the field, International Business Maga zine awarded two awards to the company- the “Best Credit Risk Management Solutions Provider UK 2022” and the “Best Credit Risk Analysis UK 2022”.

In order to address the growing demand in the world wide market for unbiased opinions on the qualifica tions of designated green, social, sustainable, and sustainability-linked debt issues, Moody’s is also ex panding its capacity to offer second party opinions (SPOs). The SPO business of Moody’s will be moved from Moody’s ESG Solutions to Moody’s Investors Service, along with the analytical personnel.

Better the ratings, Better the profits

A good bond rating from the rating agencies aids or ganizations in obtaining more affordable borrowing costs, much as having a good credit score enables people to acquire loans with more favourable terms. Ratings can encourage businesses to pay their debts on time and refrain from taking on more debt than they can comfortably handle. Bond ratings offer cru cial information to investors regarding the riskiness of different assets. Investors can decide how much risk they are ready to take on and whether the antic ipated profits are worth the dangers by looking at a company’s or bond’s ratings. The ratings given by the agencies provide another crucial factor you may use to choose which investments are best for you, regardless of whether you just feel comfortable buy ing investment-grade bonds or you’re ready to take a calculated risk by buying trash bonds.

Impact of Microfinance over the Economic Growth of Egypt

Financial inclusion is a requi site factor for the businesses as well as the government. Over the years, it has become a more prominent component for the government strategies. Microfi nance legislation has also signif icantly increased financial inclu sion across sectors of the society. Microfinance is a key strategy for encouraging low-income groups to engage in economic activity. It helps to lower unemployment, improve the incomes of the poorest households, and has a beneficial effect on boosting the amount of investment and em ployment in the national econo my when individuals and owners of microenterprises have access to numerous financing options.

Expansion of the industry

In the year of 2014, a new microfi nance legislation was introduced which completely restructured the Egypt’s tiny microfinance sector. This allowed commer cial microfinance institutions to enter the market for the first time in Egypt. The free flow of the Egyptian Pound in Novem ber 2016 drastically changed the microfinance market’s needs, as it did for all banking industry seg ments. Demand for microfinance programmes has increased signif icantly as a result of the currency flotation, especially among small and medium-sized businesses.

The Financial Regulator Authority of Egypt was given control over

the section, with the exception of the Social Fund for Develop ment’s operations and bank mi crofinance initiatives. Since the law’s regulation, market players have been required to adhere to best practices in a variety of are as, including debtor rights, credit worthiness checks, transparency, client debt burden, and advertis ing standards. This event was hailed as a significant advance ment for the country’s microfi nance sector. In the time since the 2014 regulatory framework was implemented, microfinance activity has exploded because of the certainty it gave. By 2017, the FRA had authorised 750 NGO microfinance institutions in addi tion to three commercial microfi nance firms (MFIs).

The Financial Regulatory Au thority recently revealed that the amount of microfinance in the Egyptian market was approxi mately EGP 22.53 billion in the second quarter (Q2) of 2021. The Authority reports that there were around 5524 beneficiaries of the nano-finance activity, which is of fered through microfinance busi nesses, with a financing value of EGP 1.049m in Q1 of 2021. The nano-finance product is designed to meet the needs of those who use financial services the most. It provides a maximum of EGP 3,000 per person and a maximum repayment period of 90 days. The commercial sector made up 42.71 percent of the balances of nano loans, followed by the

production activity (32.55), the commercial activity (24.3), and the agricultural activity (0.53%), according to the authorities.

Factors that contribute to the market

Several companies or firms have gradually contributed to the microfinance industry, mak ing it reach a significant level. One such example is TamWeely Microfinance. According to the Financial Regulatory Authority, the firm TamWeely Microfinance secured the eighth place among all the firms with funds of EGP 858.975m and a market share of 4.09%. The firm is a non-bank ing company that was formed to support the Egyptian econo my and people’s way of life by providing financial inclusion for the micro-and small-business sector. Tamweely Microfinance takes meaningful action towards the reduction of Egyptian pover ty and the expansion of sustain able employment possibilities. The introduction of complete and in-depth solutions in the form of market-specific financial servic es, hybrid distribution channels, targeted alliances, and more, al lows for the strategic implemen tation of these initiatives. Tam weely Microfinance’s goal is to improve people’s quality of life by financially supporting their own independent businesses. This is accomplished by combining a sense of social responsibility, the desire to play a significant role in

the economy, and the insistence on promoting the mechanism for job creation in Egyptian society. The establishment of a support ive environment where young sters can invent, establish, and grow their own prospects is final ly ensured by TamWeely microfi nance services.

Recently, the company released strong financial results for its 2020 fiscal year (FY), which end ed on December 31. The increase in revenue, as well as the growth of clients and branches, contrib uted to the outcomes. The firm has also won an award, “Best Mi crofinance Company Egypt 2022” from the International Business Magazine for its large contribu tions to the microfinance indus try. The firm aims to close the fi nancial gap between the banked and the unbanked, end poverty, and give communities the tools they need to prosper in accord ance with Egypt’s Vision 2030 and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that are set by that vision. It achieves this by employ ing a cutting-edge and techno logically advanced methodology to provide customised solutions that support the growth, develop ment, and sustainability of small company owners across the country.

REIT Industry Market of the UAE

REIT stands for Real Estate Investment Trusts. The REIT industry is a business that own, manage, and finance real estate that generates revenue for their shareholders. These businesses aim to combine the capital of numerous investors, enabling both private and institutional investors to profit from their real estate holdings. They also reduce the risk of the in dividual while purchasing, maintaining, or financing any property. Further, a REIT can be recognised as a business company that allows investors of any institution to invest in a comprehensive, profession ally managed portfolio of liquid properties. Firms or companies that want to qualify as a REIT must meet certain criteria. Investors gain a number of ad vantages from REITs, including the diversification of

their stock portfolio and dividend-based passive in come. A majority of REITs trade on significant stock exchanges.

The REIT market is booming globally. The United States has the fastest growing REIT market, fol lowed by the United Arab Emirates, the United King dom, and many others. While the US remains the largest in the real estate market, the UAE real estate market is also expanding at a rapid rate. Macroeco nomically, the UAE is expected to grow its economy by more than 5% in 2022 and 2023, and its popula tion is expected to increase, with more than 5.6 mil lion people expected to live in Dubai and 12 million

in the UAE by 2040. These elements favour the real estate sector’s long-term expansion as well as its immediate recovery.

The UAE REIT Market

REITs have been a persistent theme in the Middle East since 2014. The main purpose of REITs, which are essentially corporate vehicles, is to engage in income-producing real estate assets across several sectors. A REIT’s operations and the types of assets it can invest in are frequently subject to stringent rules and requirements. The REIT market recently gained attention with a few entrants into the market. There are currently 18 listed REITs across the GCC, including: Abu Dhabi, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and Oman. All have implemented regulatory frameworks to accommodate REITs since 2014. Dubai has two real estate investment trusts: Emirates REIT and ENBD REIT. In Saudi Arabia, there is Riyadh REIT, Al Jazira Mawten REIT, and Jadwa REIT Alharamain Fund, with a total of twelve REITS listed on Tadawul in 2018. Bahrain-Eskan Bank Realty Income Trust; and there are an additional three private REITs in Abu Dhabi-The Residential Reit, the Logistics Reit, and Etihad Reit.

In recent years, a number of REITs have been launched on stock exchanges throughout the GCC. As part of the National Transformation Program (NTP) and Saudi Vision 2030, the Saudi Capital Mar kets Authority (CMA) allowed the listing of REITs in 2016, which further accelerated its growth. With a new generation of investors looking for investment solutions to diversify their portfolios in local mar kets, the future for REITs in the GCC looks appeal ing. For conventional investors looking to invest in Sharia-compliant goods across several asset class es, including real estate, Islamic REITs may be a bet ter choice.

Looking up at the current situation of the UAE REIT market, by 2022 and 2023, the UAE’s GDP is pro jected to rise by more than 5%, and by 2040, the country’s population is projected to reach 12 million, with more than 5.6 million of those living in Dubai. These factors support both the current and longterm growth of the real estate industry. In fact, as the real estate industry continues to grow this year, the market will witness higher occupancy rates in real estate assets across Dubai and the UAE. There are several factors that are constructing the UAE into an ideal real estate investment trust. Equitativa (Dubai) Limited is one such company.

Factors impacting the UAE REIT

Equitativa is a leading regional asset management firm that specialises in managing real estate invest ment trusts (REITs). The business owns and oper ates parking lots, offices, shops, and residences. Equitativa is widely operational across the United Arab Emirates. The holding company provides both institutional and retail investors with cutting-edge risk-adjusted financial solutions that generate reve nue. Equitativa is currently regarded as the leading REIT manager in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries and the largest REIT manager for Sharia Compliant REITs worldwide. Equitativa founded the first Sharia compliant REIT in the UAE, Emirates REIT, which was created in the DIFC (Dubai International

Financial Centre). About USD 2 billion worth of as sets are being managed by the group. It manages two real estate investment trusts: The Residential REIT, incorporated in Abu Dhabi Global Markets, and Emirates REIT, which is listed on NASDAQ Dubai. By introducing a hospitality REIT, a logistics REIT, and numerous other REITs in emerging regions, Equi tativa is further diversifying its REIT portfolio. This is considered that Equitativa (Dubai) Limited is the powerhouse behind the REIT of the UAE. The firm is performing so well in its field that International Busi ness Magazine has announced it as one of the win ners in its annual awards ceremony+. The magazine has awarded “Best REIT Manager UAE 2022” to the firm for its outstanding performance in serving the best real estate services in the UAE.

Recently, Dubai-based real estate investment com pany, Emirates REIT, has revealed that its first-half 2022 profits increased by 20.9% year over year to USD 61.5 million.

Investing in Trustworthy Real Estate

REITs in the UAE require greater access to more in ternational institutional investors in order to become significant real estate asset owners and support economic growth that protects against future eco nomic downturns. This can be pension funds and in surance companies that typically value real estate’s ability to hedge against inflation or global asset man agers who will have both, dedicated real estate strat egies and exchange traded funds that will replicate

indexes, or investment companies. The recent addi tion of Tadawul to the MSCI Emerging Markets in dex has helped Saudi Arabia’s REIT sector grow and draw more foreign investment. Keeping operational control over the assets is still a big draw, as it is a chance for firms and investors to make lucrative prof its in the long term.

The Swiss test in cross border wealth management continues

Ranked number 1, Switzerland continues to domi nate the cross border wealth management servic es followed by Hong Kong, then Singapore. With almost 239 banks operational as of 2021, Switzer land is one of the dominant financial hubs across the globe. Various banking sectors in the world are known to have adopted Switzerland’s regulatory systems. A forefront leader in providing innovative banking experience, Switzerland’s banking sector

has always embraced technology by digitizing its services and establishing robust systems for data security. Furthermore, the economy of Switzerland is getting digital while an increasing number of banks are pushing digital currency for transforming into a digital economy.

The business in Switzerland’s banking sector spiked in the year 2021 as it registered a growth of 10.9% in

commission business and services. Reportedly, it has given the high est boost to the banks’ net income since 2015. Furthering its uptick in revenue, the aggregate balance sheet of all the banks in Switzerland recorded a growth of 3.5%, totaling a massive CHF 3,587.8 bn as of 2021. Liquid assets grew by 11.1% and it has witnessed a sharp rise since 2011, from CHF 259bn in 2011 to CHF 760.6 bn as of 2021 owing to Basel III liquidity rules. Mortgage loans look steady on the balance sheet possessing 31.6% of total assets. Low interest rates have ma jorly attributed to the growth and residential property mortgages have shot up resulting in an increase of 40% in mortgage loans during the period of 2011-2021.

Analysis shows, Switzerland’s financial sector contributes about 10% of the nation’s GDP. A notable mention, the embedded finance indus try of Switzerland is expected to touch USD 1.197 million by the end of 2022 with a growth rate of 30.7% annually. Projecting the forecast period from 2022 to 2029, Switzerland’s embedded finance industry is expected to generate a revenue of USD 2,976.7 million by 2029 from USD 1,197.1 million as of 2022.

Swift Investments for Switzers

Geneva based Syz capital, a subsidiary of Syz group and one of the leading boutique private markets investment firms has been offering exciting investment opportunities such as direct investments, the matic funds, tailor made solutions and has opened doors to niche investments in alternative investment and private equity to a broad range of clients since it was established in 2018. It is reported that the firm currently manages assets worth nearly CHF 2 billion and plans to expand its portfolio to London and the countries in Asia in the coming years.

As reported in February 2022, Syz Capital partnered with Zurich based Saturnus capital, a private equity firm, and acquired a controlling stake in SK Pharma, a pharmaceutical logistics firm based in Germany. Growing at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 28% as analyzed in the past three years, SK pharma has been rising seven times faster than Germany’s health care industry, as analyzied in the past 10 years, thus speeding up Syz capital’s expansion through this acquisition.

In appreciation for its unique investment services, Syz capital has been awarded ‘Best Boutique Private Mar kets Investment Firm Switzerland 2022’ at International Business Magazine. The award has been conferred based on its money making and rare investment opportunities offered to millions of investors in Switzerland.

Run by top talents such as Philippe Turrian who is currently the head of Client Solutions and Market ing & Communication with a ton of experience in the wealth management business, Banque Syz lends meticulous research, gathering solid macroeco nomic data and hence introducing a wide spectrum of unique investment opportunities to seize.

‘Syz multi- custody offering’ was launched where BHA’s clients will have access to Syz’s expertise in investment and will be able to hold their assets in their existing bank, given the choice. The alliance will also aid Banque Syz in expanding its market to the German speaking crowd while heightening its wealth management impression in Zurich.

Switzerland, an emerging Banking powerhouse is witnessing major changes in its business models while digitization is the key focus. The nation has been pretty open as it is reported that 50% of Swit zerland’s population currently uses e-banking and the number is expected to impress even more. Biomet rics, digital investing, gamification, use of blockchain

Expense Management becomes Critical in the Era of Austerity

The mechanisms used by a company to process, pay for, and audit employee-initiated expenses are referred to as expense management. These are costs that comprise, but are not restricted to, travel and entertainment charges. The policies and pro cedures that control such expenditure, as well as the tools and services used to handle and analyse the data related to it, are all included in expense management. Any organised process for handling

expenditure reports, approvals, and employee-re imbursable charges is referred to as expense man agement. For instance, running a travel programme requires monitoring daily discretionary travel spend ing, managing budgets, and account reconciliation, whether it be for a large corporation or a small-tomedium-sized firm. This entails keeping track of all travel-related expenses, whether they have been au thorised and recorded in a system or not.

To manage the expenses, there are several software applications available on the market. Software tools that manage expenses claim that organisations that offer licenced software, implementation, and support services, as well as software as a service (SaaS) provider, are sources for authorization, au dit, and reimbursement processes. The expense management industry is booming around the globe because it is inexpensive, gets rid of mistakes, and provides analytics tools for a better understanding of the organization’s financial health. Software as a service-based expenditure management solu tions also provide users and businesses with visi bility into areas that need improvement, such as improved business processes and more efficient spending management. The old approach to ex pense management for gathering the expenditure data included printing duplicates of the paper, in volving receipts, and forwarding reports to the man agers who either approved or returned them to the concerned persons for revision purposes. The pro cess has become rapid and simple since automat ed expense management software was introduced.

When an employee submits a report for approval, the software distributes it. The report-based reim bursement sum is automatically credited to payroll after approval. If the manager is not in the office, the report is immediately sent to another approver via the software. The use of expense management software reduces the cost and time involved in ad ministering these processes.

Controlling Expenses Experientially

Several countries around the world (for example, Africa) are leveraging these expense management software to maintain policy adherence, minimise manual intervention, and shorten processing times for reports and employee reimbursement. Similarly, it has been reported that the Middle Eastern expense management software market is expected to grow by USD 20,649.02 by 2029 at a 5.1% CAGR through out the course of the forecast year. Sales of travel and expense management software are increasing in the UAE as a result of the military/defence sector’s widespread use of GSM mobile phones and tablets.

The industry in the UAE is flourishing, with all the firms contributing to making the industry a convenient way to deal with. They are tracking the work expenses and repayments across the business without the use of a single sheet of paper. One such firm is Xpence Technology.

For independent contractors, start-ups, SMEs, and major corporations, Xpence is the next-generation smart business cost management soft ware with integrated physical and virtual Visa cards. Xpence Technol ogy specialises in Accounting, Bookkeeping, Start-up Bank, Payments, Invoicing, Spend Management, Expense Management, and Employee Expense Cards. It is the first smart business spending platform for freelancers, start-ups, SMEs, and corporations in the MENAP region. With real and virtual Visa payment cards from Xpence, businesses can easily manage their everyday spending. Businesses can limit their spending and employers can easily provide their employees with both real and virtual prepaid Visa cards. Each card’s spending cap and re strictions can be set, and real-time monitoring of all business expendi tures is possible. Every time an employee uses their card, a push mes sage prompts them to take a picture of the receipt. This indicates that businesses, with Xpence, may finally stop wasting time on expense reports.

The firm has done exceptionally well in providing outstanding solutions for managing expenses. The company has been awarded the “Best Ex pense Management Service Provider UAE 2022” by the International Business Magazine.

Making Expenses Light

The UAE industry is progressing forward to make it an easy procedure to deal with expense management. As per reports, by 2029, the market will grow to USD 20,649.02. Expense management is crucial and must be implemented for any business. It is critical for preserving the com pany’s unique reconciliation. Tracking employee-initiated spending is only one aspect of expense management. Additionally, it provides a comprehensive definition of every policy utilised to control spending.

The future of corporate finances largely depends on precise financial records and convenience to the employees through the quickest and easiest reimbursement process. The current and the future solutions in Expense Management is all about the accuracy in tracking of the expenditures, which further streamlines the entire risk management process. Thus, leading to improved productivity and growth.

United Kingdom leads

the global forex industry, generating 43.1%

While London has emerged as the leader in Forex, analysis shows that the turnover of Eng land’s forex industry touched a colossal USD 3,276 billion as of April 2022 recording a growth of 19% with a turnover of USD 2,757 in October 2021 and again a sub stantial increase of 11% from April 2021. Getting into the analy sis comprehensively, the volume of FX swaps soared by 18% since October 2021 registering USD 1,689 billion. NDFs (Non-deliver able forward) touched USD 136 billion with a growth of 7% while outright forwards rose to USD 371 billion with an increase of

14% as analysed from October 2021 to April 2022. Furthermore, spot turnover witnessed a rise of 21% totaling USD 884 billion while currency swaps shrunk by 7% registering USD 26 billion.

Euro – USD is reported to be the most widely traded currency in London, as seen in the average daily business of USD 952 billion, resulting in the growth of 24% since October 2021. GBP – USD secured its position to be the sec ond most traded currency pair in London with an average daily business of USD 432 billion which didn’t see much growth since

October 2021 but witnessed a 5% growth since April 2021.

GBP saw a decline in the ex change rates this year taking traders by surprise. It was USD 1.35 for 1 GBP a year ago, which fell to USD 1.04, although it shot back to USD 1.12. Reportedly, US shares got around 17% more ex pensive in October 2022 than the time in October 2021 attributing to the fall of pounds. As per the reports, pounds have suffered the worst in the last 10 years.On the 23rd of September, Bank of England (BOE) announced a GBP 45 billion tax cut that resulted in

a hurried sale on bond markets. Bank of England (BoE) is expect ed to introduce strategies and measures to harmonize the fi nancial market, a news published in October 2022 reported.

Connecting with the Best Assets

Australia-based Axi, one of the leading forex and CFD trading companies in England has been known for its sophisticated trad ing services in about 100 coun tries with an estimated 42,000 clients. It is reported that in 2021, Axi was involved in a trade magni tude of a massive USD 2.4 trillion. Backed by one of its most valu able assets, Axi’s client servicing team aids the traders in every action of the exchange process. Furthermore, once the client is engaged with Axi, a relationship manager is introduced to assist the client with all the necessary resources and make them famil iar with the tools involved in the business.

Axi has been constantly lending its ears to traders to further im prove its services. As reported in September 2022, Axi rebuilt its Introducing Broker (IB) program bringing more flexibility to the structure for enhancing its pro ductivity in the client referral busi ness. Precise details on rewards as per the number of referrals produced have been established in Axi’s newly improved (Introduc ing broker) IB program.

A comprehensive understanding for beginners in the most popular MT4 (MetaTrader) program, Axi also offers advanced tools such as Autocharist where the soft ware makes a scan in the market and brings in opportunities based on market movements. PsyQua tion acts as an instructor along the way by spotting potential mis takes & shows analysis of trades, and MT4 NexGen gives access to plugins and aids the traders with sentiment trading, management tools, & enhanced ordering.

In view of its unique and efficient trading services with a special mention in its offerings in the ver satile Meta Trader 4 (MT4) pro gram, Axi has won 2 awards at International Business Magazine, a Dubai-based global publishing house. The awards conferred are ‘Most Innovative Trading Tech nology Platform United Kingdom 2022’, ‘Best MT4 Provider United Kingdom 2022’. With robust data security measures, round-theclock multi-lingual support, per sonalized accounts and low trad ing costs, Axi is a broker, traders need to meet.

Weathering the Storm of Inflation

A few aspects that influence the GBP are monetary policy, con sumer confidence & sentiment, inflation, the balance of payment and economic growth. Monetary policy by the Bank of England (BOE) aids the bank to tackle

inflation when pounds gets a bit shaky. Confidence & sentiment is crucial because traders would want to know if the majority of them are positive about the econ omy or the other way around. GDP (Gross domestic product) is another solid aspect that decides the currency’s worth. Since GDP is a quarterly report, a large num ber of traders rely on other means of analysis such as manufactur ing PMI (Purchasing Managers’s Index), Services PMI and retail sales, which is most preferred of all. Balance of payments shows the data of the nation’s accounts of purchases and selling with oth er countries. A surplus is healthy for the currency since it’s more of getting credit while a deficit is bad for the currency because money flows out. Current account report is published quarterly, although the trade balance report comes out every month.

2022 is not the kind of year UK expected as GBP has been pretty rough this year and UK’s econo my is suffering through an infla tionary period. GBP came down to almost 20% to USD since the start of the year. The mountain got a bit steeper for UK, and the government plans on rising en ergy prices and announcing tax cuts to stabilize the economy.

Tools

Communication platform as a service is exponentially improv ing the ease of interaction be tween people. Communication platform applications are voice, messaging, video conferencing calls, chatbots, and many more. The growing market for contextu al communications, like video-en abled help desks, appointment reminders, authentication servic es, and so on, has enlarged its scope. The Middle East and Afri ca Communications Platform as a Service Market are expected to grow at a 31% CAGR from 2022 to 2027.

In the Middle East and Africa re gion, businesses are constantly utilising a customer-centric ap proach to provide a customised experience to customers through deep interaction. The Middle East and Africa recorded small & me dium-sized enterprises rapidly improving their Communication platforms during 2017-21 and also providing major growth op portunities to the market. Further more, as customers’ business complexities and other require ments have grown, so has the demand for professional Com munication platform as a ser vices such as technical support, consulting, maintenance, inte gration & implementation, and so on. Digital technologies is a part

of the communication platform and it is encouraging the small & medium-sized firms to go digital with their business activities and processes in order to implement digital transformation for their business and better connect with their customers. The adoption of communications platform as a service has aided businesses in improving productivity while increasing flexibility and lower ing costs. Many countries have joined in the race for developing advanced Communication soft ware platforms. Thus,creatingop portunities on a large scale.

Enabling Global Communication as a Service

The Communications Platform as a Service Market in the Mid dle East & Africa region has been majorly commanded by Small & Medium Scale Enterprises. Be sides that, by improving its ef ficiency, Small & Medium Scale Enterprises can better utilise global opportunities by lowering transportation costs, improving services, cost-efficient trading, reducing logistics and opera tions costs and also providing better communication interface by adopting digital platforms such as video conferencing, messaging apps, and voice calls for transforming businesses.

Several Governments have tak en the necessary steps to pri oritise technological advance ment in Small & Medium Scale Enterprises. Furthermore, the governments of these countries have implemented several digital transformation strategies, such as Saudi Arabia Vision 2030, ICT strategy, the UAE National Inno vation Strategy, Kuwait Vision 2035, and others, to kickstart digitalization and technological advancements in Small & Medi um Scale Enterprises, including sectors such as healthcare, IT, telecom, BFSI, automotive, retail, education, and so on.

There are several firms or com panies in the Middle East & North Africa that are continuously striv ing for boosting up the commu nication platforms of the region. In 2021, some of these firms cre ated possibilities for imminent business players to adopt com munication platform as a service in their business solutions for excellent growth. Hence, these firms induced the growth of com munication platform services in MENA. In 2022 too, many firms are planning to deliver a single united platform that involves dig ital contact center, AI-driven chat bots, and also customer engage ment messaging tools. One such firm is CEQUENS.

Evolving Communications for a Global Network

CEQUENS is a Communication Platform as a Ser vice provider with the purpose of bridging commu nication gaps in this communication-driven world.

CEQUENS was established in response to the growing challenges of enterprise communication. CEQUENS began as an SMS aggregator and worked its way up to become an omnichannel Communica tion platform as a service provider. CEQUENS also plays some pivotal roles in transforming business communication. As the market evolves, so does the comprehensive products of the company. CEQUENS is a Cloud-based communication platform and is an end-to-end solution to helping businesses. This platform is basically designed to meet the demands of digital transformation. Everything under the CEQUENS brand is designed to improve communi cation while maintaining the highest level of security at the lowest possible cost. CEQUENS proprietary, PCI/DSS compliant Communication Platform lev erages the latest cloud technologies and offers a comprehensive portfolio of industry-focused, agile, scalable, and cost-effective products and solutions. CEQUENS Communication Platform

offers omnichannel communication services and APIs that allow businesses and developers to com municate with their global customer base. It com bines cutting-edge cloud technologies with a plugand-play platform that meets all communication requirements, as well as a comprehensive portfolio of omnichannel communication services that are dependable, scalable, and cost-effective. CEQUENS communication platform are providing Seamless omnichannel communications with Direct connec tivity to worldwide mobile operators, Detailed and re al-time analytics, Powerful integrations using robust technologies.The international Business magazine awarded CEQUENS with “Best Communications Platform MENA 2022” for its outstanding perfor mances in providing best communication platform in MENA region.

Organizations can use communication platforms to integrate real-time communication capabilities, such as voice, video, and messaging, into business applications for more meaningful interactions with customers. Platforms are access points, whereas products can be either goods or services.

Life-Saving Sanitation Industry witness new Disruptions

Disinfectant and Sanitation ser vices have been popularly pre ferred for destroying microor ganisms on inert surfaces. This Sanitation is mostly used in healthcare, residential and com mercial areas, and many more places. During the pandemic pe riod, sanitation became much more popular across the UAE for keeping the region sterilized from COVID-19. The impact of COVID-19 on the disinfectant and sanitation market in UAE in creased the usage of sanitizing equipments and also the demand for disinfectant sprays. The disin fectant products are available in the markets as well as on online platforms. During the recent pan demic period, household custom ers preferred online shopping over offline stores for safety pur pose, which also increased the demand for disinfectant and san itation services. Several compa nies also started manufacturing disinfectant products to meet the rising demands from hospitals. They subsequently launched var ious other sanitizing products in the UAE market.

The UAE Detergents & Disin fectants industry manufacturer produces quality commercial, household and industrial chem ical products in the region. The industry manufacturers attempt to innovate and intensify the new products in the market in order to meet the growing demands

of consumer expectations and satisfactions. UAE Detergents & Disinfectants industry is famous for providing top-quality cleaning chemicals. From in dustrial, healthcare, hospitality, hotels, schools, restaurants, to commercial and institutional power cleaning and restoration chemicals to remove the toughest stains. Antiseptic, disinfectants, sanitiz er surfaces, Glass Cleaner, Dish Wash, Condenser, Evaporator, and many more are also popularly used. UAE Disinfectant & sanitation market will see an ex ponential growth in 2022-2027. The pandemic time significantly increased the usage of disinfectant and sanitation services thereby significantly increasing the market size to a certain level. Several firms are playing a vital role in the growth of the industry. One such firm is Ecolyte+.

Revolutionizing the Sanitation Approach

Ecolyte+ is one of the natural disinfecting solutions manufacturing companies in the UAE. Ecolyte+ manufactures disinfecting solutions such as Fruit & Vegetable Disinfectants, Meat & Seafood Disinfect ants, Ecolyte+ Multi-Surface Disinfectants, Disinfec tion Tunnels, Foggers, Hand Dispensers, and many more. These products are primarily used in public areas like schools, universities, airports, shopping malls, warehouses, and offices. These detergents are used in almost every places. Meat and seafood disinfectants are used to clean the meat and almost completely kill the germs. It is a natural spray and is also nontoxic and nonalcoholic. It has no artificial colors, fragrances, or flavours added to it. Ecolyte+ produces a mixed oxidizing solution consisting mainly of pure electrolysed water (HOCl). HOCI is a strong oxidant and immediately kills the germs.

Ecolyte+ Multi-Surface Disinfectants is also used as a GYM Sanitation product. It is a safe and does not affect the human body. Ecolyte+ Multi-Surface Disinfectant can be used to disinfect all contact sur faces in the gymnasium, including equipment, seats

and benches, weights, carpets, and floors. Hand Dis pensers based on Ethyl Alcohol cleanser are used to remove the bacteria from one’s hand. Ecolyte+ is a 100% natural and safe product that is hypoaller genic, effective in killing 99.99% of germs, nontox ic, non-alcoholic, non-hazardous, non-flammable, non-irritant, and non-corrosive. ECOLYTE + is manu factured locally (in the UAE) by its professionals and qualified technicians and it contributes to eradicat ing the COVID-19 epidemic in the country.

Due to Ecolyte+’s excellent performance in provid ing the best detergent and disinfectant solutions in the UAE the International Business Magazine has awarded the company with “Best Innovative Compa ny in Disinfection and Cleaning Industry UAE 2022”.

Cleanliness is Next to Godliness

The growing emphasis on adopting healthy and hy gienic lifestyles, as well as the rising prevalence of Hospital-Acquired Infections such as central line-as sociated bloodstream infections, and surgical site infections among others, are driving the UAE Disin fectant & Sanitation Services Market through 2027.

The detergent and disinfectant industry of UAE is booming rapidly. The COVID-19 pandemic boosted the industry and enhanced it to an extensive level. Disinfectants are proving to be beneficial and in evitable in our daily life as well as in the context of Covid-19. Due to this, the industry has gained con siderable attention. Recently, antimicrobial agents have been identified as being effective, affordable, and convenient, and so are widely available. There are disinfectant applications in every aspect of life, including at home, the office, healthcare facilities, other industries, and the surrounding environment. Therefore, investing or approving the industry is beneficial in today’s world to keep our people and places safe from infection.

Lifestyle

Sri Lanka: A Major Apparel

Sourcing Hub, with special emphasis on Weft Knitting

Sri Lanka has always been in the spotlight for gaining an in ternational reputation for being one of the biggest textile manu facturing industries. Sri Lanka’s major textile manufacturers pro duce top-class woven, knitted, and non-woven fabrics for clas sic fashion appellations such as Pink, PVH, Victoria’s Secret, Next, Columbia Sportswear, Lasenza, Nike, Adidas, Gap, Levi’s, Intimis simi, H&M, Hugo Boss, M&S, and many more.

In Sri Lanka, there are a num ber of significant textile produc ers and suppliers. While some of them export textiles directly, others supply textiles to regional exporters and garment makers. Weaving, knitting, and braiding are common methods for making fabrics. The other methods used for this encompass mechanical, thermal, chemical, or solvent means of connecting fibres.

Some of the major categories of fabric made in Sri Lanka are: wo ven fabric, knitted fabric, braid ed fabric, and non-woven fabric. There are some specialty fabrics too, such as aluminized fabrics, awning fabrics, and blended fabrics.

Sri Lanka is the hub for exporting fabrics to other countries and the major sources of fabrics export ed from Sri Lanka are: Blended knitted fabric, Blended woven fabric, Cotton fabric, Double jer sey fabric, Denim fabric, Deco rative fabric, Nylon fabric, Mesh fabric, Lace fabric, Single Jersey fabric, Linen fabric, Silk fabric, Shirting fabric, Suiting fabric, Taf feta fabric, Polyester knitted fab ric, Polyester fabric, Greige fabric, and Velour fabric.

Weft Knitting

Weft Knitting is one of the most used knitting techniques in Sri Lanka. A knitted item known as a weft-knit is one in which the horizontal stitches go across the fabric from left to right. It can be constructed by hand or with a knitting machine and is often knitted with a single piece of yarn. Weft knitting is the most popular type of knitting due to its simplici ty compared to warp knitting. Jer sey, Double Knit, Circular Knitting, Fair Isle, and Cable knitting are all weft knitting variations. The ma jority of these knits are made on knitting machines. Weft-knitted fabric producers make up all the textile companies in Sri Lanka.

The fabric industry of Sri Lanka provides access to a large selec tion of weft-knitted fabrics, fibre blends, patterns, and innovative fabric developments. This assists customers in realising that specif ic design. Many firms, ranging from contemporary to tradition al, are producing for people who want to maintain outstanding quality while maintaining distinc tive styling for distinctive designs. The Sri Lankan fabric industry market is boosted by the efforts of these firms’ working day and night. The weft knitting fabric in dustry of Sri Lanka is progressive, catering to all kinds of demands from its customers. The industry is famous for maintaining a close eye on new worldwide fashion trends and winning over clients with both creativity and quick ness. The weft knitting fabric in dustry of Sri Lanka is ethical and maintains sustainable practises, eliminating waste to lessen its impact on the environment. One such powerhouse of the industry is Hayleys Fabric PLC.

Firms behind the industry

A pioneer in Sri Lankan weft knit fabric production, Hayleys Fabric PLC began in 1992. It is currently

acknowledged as a top-tier cloth maker with a high level of inven tiveness and its own brand, INNO. The business uses best practises for sustainability, conservation of environment, protection of health, and safety while focusing on envi ronmentally friendly procedures. The company surpasses the aim of the global drive to “zero dis charge of hazardous chemicals (ZDHC)” by three years. These strategies have helped the busi ness get the best brands in the world for its product line-up. The organisation has so far been able to stay on course with its objec tive due to strong ethical stand ards and fundamental principles.

The company received the “Best Textile Manufacturer in Sri Lan ka 2022” and “Most Sustaina ble Textile Industry in Sri Lanka 2022” awards from the Interna tional Business Magazine due to its outstanding performances for being the most sustainable tex tile manufacturer in Sri Lanka.

With a monthly capacity of more than 3 million metres of fabric, Hayleys Fabric PLC has an annu al turnover of USD 72 million. The company has invested in itself to produce cutting-edge fabric that major apparel manufacturers across the world adore. Today, the company has moved its at tention to environmentally friend ly inventions employing recycled PET bottle yarns from Sri Lankan shoes and organic yarns, and it is further aligning its business practises to become a socially

conscious, moral, adaptable, and transparent institution. The pro duction facility for Hayleys Fabric has the ability to knit, dye, print, brush, suede, and finish fabrics. The firm provides Single Jersey, Interlock, Pique, Rib, Fleece and Polar Fleece, Jacquard and Flat Knits in both plain and printed colours that are made from pure and blended cotton, polyester, viscose, and modal yarns.

The largest conglomerate in Sri Lanka, Hayleys PLC, owns 59% of the company directly, which is listed on the Colombo stock exchange and has a total asset value of USD 48 million. Hayleys PLC is one of Sri Lanka’s most well-known and award-winning conglomerates. Manufacturing, shipping and freight forwarding, power and energy (Solar, Hydro, and Wind), agriculture (including equipment, fertiliser, and seeds), city and resort hotels, travel and tourism, engineering, tea and rub ber plantations, and the biggest consumer and retail chain store operators in Sri Lanka are all in cluded in its diverse business portfolio. The corporation, one of the oldest corporate organisa tions in the nation with a history spanning more than 140 years, has an annual turnover of over USD 1 billion dollars. Recently, it has been reported that through the largest solar roof installation in Sri Lanka, Hayleys Fabric PLC provides the national grid with 6,241,500 kWh of power annually and lowers the company’s carbon

impact by 4,065.45 tCO2.

In order to source textiles, it is al ways recommendable to prefer Sri Lankan manufacturers. There are numerous benefits to purchasing textiles made in Sri Lanka, includ ing high-quality products that the world’s most recognisable fash ion brands trust; modern manu facturing facilities and technolo gies; decades’ worth of expertise and practical knowledge; excel lent infrastructure and logistics; a skilled and well-trained work force; ingenuity and creativity.

Bahrain becomes the hub of Digital Revolution in GCC

Credited to be the master of Islamic banking in the GCC region, Bahrain has emerged as a financial hub with the highest number of financial institutions in the region. Additionally, Bahrain is also the largest fintech hub in the region as it has been constantly embracing technology over the years and its inno vative approach has been bringing the best banking experience to its millions of customers.

It is reported that the digital payment industry in the GCC region will grow at a compound annual growth rate of 14.8% as projected in the forecast period of 2022-2028. Getting further into the reports, 95% of consumers in the MENA (The Middle East And North Africa) region are open to picking up digital payments such as QR codes, digital wallets, con tactless and more for quick and easy transactions. There has been a rise of 88% based on the number of consumers having access to digital payments

Bahrain becomes the hub of Digital Revolution in GCC

since 2020 in the MENA region while most of them regarded digital payments as money-saving.

In 2015, Bahrain became the first country to intro duce real-time fund transfer service in GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) leading the digital transfor mation in the region. The digital payment industry of Bahrain has been exceptional in recent years as digitization of the financial sector has progressed fairly. As per the reports, the total transaction val ues based on digital payments will touch USD 1,877 million by the end of 2022. Projecting the forecast period between 2022-2027, the transaction value is expected to increase with a CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate) of 10.09% which amounts to a total of USD 3,036 million. The digital commerce segment is expected to lead the market contributing an esmated USD 1,695 million by 2022.

Making Digital Payments Eazy

Bahrain-based Eazy Financial Services B.S.C, one of the leading payment service providers in Bahrain has been phenomenal so far since its dawn in 2016. It has been regarded as one of the top 25 fintech companies in the Middle East as per several rating agencies in the region. The central bank of Bahrain has licensed the company and further regulated it. Eazy is the 5th Company in business to introduce an online payment gate way, POS, virtual accounts and payment cards, in the Kingdom of Bahrain. A principal acquirer member of VISA & MasterCard and also a channel acquirer partner with Amex, Eazy has been offering the best payment experience to its millions of customers in Bahrain.

Commending its genuine, safe and customer-friendly payment services, Eazy has been awarded ‘Most Trusted Payment Platform Bahrain 2022’, ‘Best Payment Network Bahrain 2022’ by International Business Magazine, a Dubai-based global publishing house.

As reported in September 2022, Eazy announced its collaboration with the Cayman Islands-based Binance, one of the world’s leading cryptocurrency & blockchain infrastructure service providers, introducing crypto currency payment option to the online payment gateway of Bahrain and to at least 5000 POS (Point of sale) terminals.

Cryptocurrency has been trending in Bahrain in recent years with companies accepting payments through cryptocurrencies such as bitcoins and more. Reportedly, Eazy’s cryptocurrency-based payment service of fering is the first of its kind to be introduced in North Africa & Middle East region with approval and regulation from the Central Bank of Bahrain.

Harnessing the power of Digital Economy

With an ambitious vision, Bahrain aspires to go cashless by 2030 and is currently the rising player in innovations for digital payments in the GCC re gion. The kingdom has been constantly investing in technology to reshape its payment methods and infrastructure as it aspires to go completely digital. Reports suggest Bahrain’s revenues from digital transactions will generate USD 485 million by 2030, almost 2 times more than it is today while the trans action volume will further by 128% to USD 228 mil lion by 2030.

Backed by Bahrain’s National Electronic Network for financial transactions (BENEFIT) which is acceler ating the growth of sustainable and efficient digital payments for the country, the nation plans to intro duce new-age payment products. It plans to take advantage of the huge number of internet users to bring a digital footprint in business enterprises, especially in small and medium scale ones. This would further boost the e-commerce sector of the nation. Contributing about 30% towards Bahrain’s GDP, Micro, small and medium enterprises is one of

the nation’s economic backbone. BENEFIT is dedi cated to offering digital tools to small merchants for receiving payments. In view of the vision to go cashless by 2030, BENEFIT reportedly plans on in troducing on-soil payment processing infrastructure which aids consumers with online shopping servic es which in turn boosts the country’s economy.

Data security is of prime importance, and Bahrain is committed to investing in cybersecurity, that

would ensure secure transactions across the nation from all over the globe.. Regarded as the first coun try to adopt ‘Cloud first’ policy in the MENA region, the Kingdom of Bahrain is wide open to collabora tions with innovative technology companies from across the world to constantly enhance its digital infrastructure while enhancing the efficiency of the government online services and advancing towards becoming a digital hub in the MENA region.

Trends powering global logistics, transportation sector to beat the pandemic blues

Global Logistics, Transportation and E-commerce are the three most upbeat sectors that have stood the test of time especial ly when the pandemic created havoc and triggered most of the sectors to plunge into a grave phase. Despite the devastation of the pandemic, the positive aspect that has emerged from these sectors is that the global logistics and transportation sector had amassed USD 4.92 trillion during 2021. The juggernaut is going to only improve further in the future propelling it to be a core driver for any economy’s competitiveness.

The global logistics market in the present context appeals more to wards the amalgamation of both the supply side with the demand aspect trends. As per the recent reports sourced from global re search and analytical firms, the global logistics, and transporta tion sector is anticipated to surge at 5.7-6% within 2022-2027.

The logistics, and transporta tion industry is one of the strong foundations of global trade which is all set to touch base of USD 13,326.3 billion within 2027. The

actual reason behind this surge is due to improved prospects in e-commerce logistics, mitigat ing threats arising from contain er shortage, closure of major ports causing port congestion, shortage of truck drivers, and re stricted capacity in the air freight market.

Global tech giants also predict that the future of transportation and logistics will be offering a world of opportunities, which will be initiated from bold and in tegrated steps. The core trends mapping the huge surge in the glob al logistics, and transportation sector that has enabled it to emerge as the lead foundation for economic boost are - Digitization of Tech nology and resultant changes in Logistics, Supply Chain and Transportation Arena. Cost efficien cy forms

an integral part of the success story for any leading logistics, supply chain man agement and transport firm. It also thrusts the

economic recovery and mitigates all hindrances that promise a nation’s growth. The Digitization module, technology advancements, and automated solutions offer huge cost savings for core logistical, and trans portation firms. The Big Data integration and incorporation of Artificial Intelligence (AI), Cloud Computing, Blockchain, Robotics and Machine Learning offer a huge potential for improving the efficiency, flexibility, safety and transparency of transport and storage operations.

The age-old adage “Customer is the King” is absolutely significant in the Logistics and Transportation are na as they require the best commodities, with their tailor-made preferences to be delivered securely and quickly. For logistics, and supply chain groups, it’s a race against all odds and time, exploring and incorporating advanced technologies like Drones, Droids and more. Utili zation of AI technology and incorporating mass transit options, sharing mobility as a service (MaaS) solutions into

Logistics

a hyper-personalized, seamless approach to door-to-door travel, operable from a single, integrated and smart app, which is the next big megatrend.

Globalized World filled with in telligent Logistics, Supply-chain prospects

Over the past few years, data man agement systems have emerged as the kingpin, ruling almost any global sectors right from Manu facturing, supply-chains, trans port, freight and others. The fu ture of logistics, transportation and supply chains will definitely be defined by the data, analyzed with the aid of artificial Intelli gence and powered by Machine Learning, and Robotics. Internet of Things (IoT), 5G wireless net works will be empowering a cir cular economy of logistics, em powering visibility and efficiency. Thus, it surges the traceability and reliability of operations.

Opting the Path of Sustainability

Eco-friendly options have be come the voice of the hour and hence steadily, logistics, trans portation and whole of the e-commerce sector are shifting gears to achieve a responsible, meaningful logistics solution with less carbon emissions. This could be achieved by decarboniz ing transport operatives, utilizing the recyclable materials involved

to cut the wastage of resourc es, utilizing solar, wind and oth er renewable energy resources, installing hybrid assembly lines and efficient working space are the measures to stop wastages and pollution. A report from a lead research agency adds that 80% consumers prefer procuring repeated items from firms that utilize recyclable materials.

Adding Workforce Diversity

Workforce diversity within the Transportation & Logistics (T&L) industry lags significantly, when compared with other industries and is a major cause of concern. Hence, core industry players are adopting policies that ensure di versity and inclusion within their workforce. Over past few years, a complete digitization pattern is observed everywhere and hence a humanless logistics concept have emerged. However, logistics and supply chain have an insep arable bonding with humans and their physical supervison. Hence, a report by a leading data firm states that 75% of the lead supply chain, logistics firm have adopted diversification of workforce that are well equipped with all core methodology and have induced six sigma certification courses on AI-Logistics and more.

Supply chains, and their disrup tion have never been in the spot light ever since the outbreak of

pandemic. Logistics, and Trans portation are key to the flow of goods from point of origin to point of consumption, meeting endless requirement of varied clients.

Logistical services are branched into Third-Party Logistics (3PL), Fourth-Party Logistics (4PL), In bound and Outbound Logistics, Reverse Logistics, Green Logis tics, Construction Logistics, Dig ital, Military Logistics, and more. The Asia Pacific (Apac) region leads from the front in the region al market for logistics across the globe, followed by Europe, North America, Latin America, Middle East and Africa.

Futuristic Hyperloop Technology

Hyperloop technology services are relatively a new concept in the global logistics, transporta tion arena and is slated to be the next gamechanger in the years to come. It will curb the delivery time to under 10-15 minutes, thereby offering clients a quick turnaround on the delivery of items. APAC nations like India, China, Singapore, Japan is build ing hyperloop infrastructure to maintain better Delivery TAT.

Future of Global

Logistics

The global logistics, and trans portation market has slowly rolled out from the deep on slaught of the Pandemic, and

other pandemic-related delays and closures. High demand for ocean freight from Asia to the U.S., capacity constraints at the ports, and the Russia-Ukraine conflict have impacted the world logistics market, declining it at 2.8%. The bounce back is even more credible with the world logistics market heading towards a 6.8% surge within 2027.

The global logistics, transportation sector is drifting towards a digitized shift, utilization of AI, Machine Learn ing, Decentralized payment modes, decentralized delivery and transport, utilization of best resources all at reasonable rates while keeping the customer preference at utmost importance.

next big industrial disruption Foreshadowing the risks from the

Some of the major risk factors that is impeding the growth rate of the global economy are supply chain disruptions, inflation, debt, labour market gaps, protection ism and educational disparities. Governments across the globe are investing their resources into restoring the pre-pandemic GDP levels, boosting employment and improving the reserve capital in the treasury. The ongoing geopo litical tensions is further straining the recovery path of economies across the globe. As per the lat est report from the World Eco nomic Forum, by 2024, develop ing economies (excluding China) will have fallen 5.5 percent below their pre-pandemic expected GDP growth, while some of the advanced economies could sur pass 0.9 percent. This would fur ther highlight the global income gap.

The Global Risks Perception Survey (GRPS) report under the Global Risks Report 2022 indi cates that the world is facing so cietal risks in the form of ‘social cohesion erosion’, ‘livelihood cri sis’, and ‘mental health deteriora tion’. Environmental risks are per ceived to be the five most critical long-term threats to the world as

well as the most potentially dam aging to people and the planet. Digital inequality, cybersecurity failure are some of the technolo gy-related risks.

Experts suggest that the pandem ic has shrunk the global economy so much that by 2024, the figures are going to be 2.3 percent small er than what was expected with out the devastation of the 2-year pandemic. The report suggests that 51 million more people are projected to live in extreme pov erty compared to pre-pandemic conditions. Growing insecurity resulting from economic hard ships, intensifying impacts of cli mate change and political insta bility are already forcing millions to leave their homes in search of a better future abroad. “Involun tary migration” is a top long-term concern today. In 2020, over 34 million people were displaced abroad globally due to the con flicts in their region alone. As per reports, in 2022, the United States is witnessing over 11 million gen eral job vacancies while the Euro pean Union has reported a deficit of 400,000 drivers in the trucking industry. Migration pressures will also exacerbate international ten sions as it is increasingly used as

a geopolitical instrument. Several governments will have to man age diplomatic relationships and immigrant skepticism among their populations.

Evaluating Risks and Devising Action Plans

The US entered into a phase of recession when it reported two consecutive quarters of negative Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the summer of 2022. The inflated cost of living and the rising inter est rates from the central agen cies is pushing down the growth rate of the economy across the globe. It is being projected as the weakest growth profile since 2001, without considering the pandemic period. Some of the central agencies of developed nations are eager to increase un employment and slow the econ omy even further to get a grip on inflation. The global manufactur ing sector is witnessing a very leisurely rate of recovery as in dustrial production continues to report dismal figures.

These are the times when enter prises and organizations across the world are bustling towards plugging all the possible revenue

leaks. This is where the financial risk managers come in. They an ticipate the oncoming risks, ana lyze all the best possible solutions and evaluate the situation after the execution. Every individual, or ganizations and sector have their own set of financial risks and each of these financial risk man agers have their own techniques to execute them successfully. Some of these new techniques in volve advanced cloud computing, non-traditional data and machine learning capabilities. The most common strategies observed among financial risk managers are avoidance, reduction, shar ing and retention of risks. Each of these strategies are chosen on the basis of the severity of the risk, the amount of potential loss and gains and many more. Risk assessments are made on the basis of several methods such as Value at Risk (VaR) analysis, regression analysis and scenario analysis. The Global Association of Risk Professionals observes that although the regulatory fo cus has shifted to climate risk, it still focuses on the traditional ly major ones, which are - credit risk, market risk, operational risk, and liquidity risk. The capital and financial markets are constantly challenged by investment risks, security and gaps in business continuity. The latest hot topic, sustainability, is also grabbing the attention of financial risk managers.

Today, most financial risk manag ers across the globe prefer soft ware tools that aid in automation, accuracy, relevancy, secure data processing, and real-time record ing. The principle of risk man agement is simply followed asGreater the consequences of the risk, the more stringent are the controls that should be applied.

Making growth sustainable and risk-averse

Asia has been at the crux of some of the major disruptions in the global economy in the past 5 years and this has revealed some major players in the credit risk market. Since it is traditionally considered as a major risky sec tor, banks today are segregating the healthy from risky portfoli os to reduce the impact of the non-performing assets in the SME sector. Enterprises on the other hand are anticipating lower collateral requirements and lower interest rates.

Vietnam-based Bank for Invest ment and Development of Viet nam, JSC (BIDV) is considered a pioneer in Vietnam for incorpo rating the best international prac tices in credit risk management. The Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Investment and Devel opment of Vietnam (Vietnamese: Ngân hàng Thương mại Cổ phần Đầu tư và Phát triển Việt Nam) is a large state-owned bank in

Vietnam. It is the country’s num ber one bank in net income and the second biggest bank by as sets. Winner of the ‘Most Inno vative Risk Management Bank of Vietnam’ title from International Business Magazine, BIDV’s risk management model has met the principles of independence and centralization as per the recom mendation of the Basel Com mittee. The bank is approved by the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) and meets the standards for high risk-weighted asset management performance. BIDV has improved its risk management capacity by implementing capital adequa cy standards and by completing most of the prospective projects.

BIDV has expertise in concentra tion risk management through certain efficient tools and has even set up a 3 line defense mod el to manage the market risks. It is well-equipped to manage liquidity risks, interest rate risks in the banking book (IRRBB) le gal risks, IT risks - by setting up a special committee for tackling cyber threats, and operational risks. With regards to the oper ational Risks, in 2021, BIDV has proactively initiated a business continuity plan in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and natural disasters. This has been engaged in compliance with the Govern ment, SBV and the competent authorities.

will also have to cope with the evolution of newer types of risk (e.g., model, contagion, and cyber)—all of which require new skills and tools. Banks need to consider a complete overhaul in their IT and HR capabilities in order to withstand a new disruptive onslaught of expectations and aspirations fueled by the latest technological innovations and changing political conditions.

Kuwait Banks on Banks for its Economic Upturn

Kuwait banking sector is one of the most efficient and fastest economically growing nations in the GCC region. Kuwait has 11 local commercial banks which in clude 5 Islamic banks. As per re ports, the total aggregated value of profits after tax of listed banks in Kuwait was around 1.2 billion Kuwaiti dinars in 2019. Howev er this fell to 592 million Kuwaiti dinars after the global Covid-19 pandemic in 2020. According to the survey, as the number of commercial banks in Kuwait in creases, by 2025, the bank ac count penetration will reach at 99 percent. Kuwait has a score of 620 on the Global Financial Centers index.Kuwait is a lead er in the Middle East for online

banking and financial technology. There will be approximately 28 financial technology startups in the country by 2020.

Kuwait is a leader for the Islamic banking sector, within the Mid dle East region. Kuwait contains nearly 6.3 percent of global Islam ic banking assets. Islamic banks in Kuwait grew by 8.8 percent by 2020, compared to convention al banks in the country, which grew by only 0.5 percent during the same period. Kuwaiti Islamic bank’s standalone credit profiles is predicted to enhance in 2022 by a more favorable operating environment of high oil prices, rising interest rates, and stronger credit growth, according to Fitch

Ratings in a new report. The ad vancement of digital banking will continue to be a top priority. The Kuwait government supports the benefits of Islamic banks to be a form of enabling and supportive Islamic regulations.

During the period of the pandem ic, the expansive, unpredictable, and overwhelming scope of the impact left its mark on the sector, but Kuwait’s banks revealed to be efficient, and properly action-ori ented and were quick to take de cisive steps to alleviate the neg ative impact and the economic toll, both for themselves and the economy as a whole. Banks have played an important role in assisting the government, the

national recovery efforts, Small and medium enterprises, and even individual consumers since the beginning of the crisis.

Banking into Everyone’s Happiness

Jordan Kuwait Bank, one of the leading banks in Kuwait, is lead ing a distinctive role in serving the national economy since its inception on October 25, 1976, by providing distinguished and com prehensive banking services and solutions that meet the needs and interests of the Bank’s clients and the general public through a wide network of branches in Jordan and Cyprus. Jordan Kuwait Bank is a private banking unit offering customers an integrated set of investment banking products and services. Jordan Kuwait Bank aims to support Small and medi um enterprises in achieving their objectives through a variety of fi nancing programs. It offers direct and indirect facilities to both indi viduals and businesses across all industries. Jordan Kuwait Bank offers products and services that aim to increase business activity and efficiency by financing work ing capital, fixed asset financing, maintenance & decor financing, supply chain financing, as well as financing for business expansion, purchasing shares from partners, purchasing raw materials, in vesting in new projects, and any

other purpose permitted by law and international conventions.

Jordan Kuwait Bank supports the cultural, artistic, and sports movements in the Kingdom and also trains the young generation in the education department. Jor dan Kuwait Bank continuously and dedicatedly supports most of the charitable organizations in the nation that is working for the poor and needy people, support ing families, and empowering women.

The Bank’s Treasury and Invest ment department offers the cus tomers with services such as foreign exchange products, mar gin trading, financial derivatives, money market products at com petitive prices, capital market products at competitive prices, and many more.Jordan Kuwait Bank provides a comprehensive range of foreign exchange prod ucts to meet the clients’ needs for maximizing profits or hedging and protecting their financial as sets, including spot and forward trading in foreign currencies and precious metals. Foreign ex change transactions are carried out through direct contact with the Treasury and Investment de partment’s dealing room, which is outfitted with cutting-edge communications technology and financial information systems. Jordan Kuwait Bank has won two awards from International

Business Magazine, titled as“Best Private Bank Jordan 2022” and “Best Corporate Bank Jordan 2022.”

Digitization can assist banking institutions to advance their en vironmental, social, and gov ernance (ESG) priorities. Digital banking solutions, for example, can broaden inclusive financing options while reducing the need for cash and paper, whereas data analytics can improve risk-man agement procedures. According to the latest S&P Global Ratings report, Kuwait’s positive macroe conomic outlook, higher oil pric es, and rising interest rates are smoothening the recovery path for Kuwaiti banks. Earnings in the banking sector are expected to fully recover in 2022, aided by higher margins as banks’ balance sheets shift toward rising interest

Kuwait’s client-driven Insurance sector

Kuwait is widely regarded for es tablishing one of the oldest insur ance companies in the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) region, such as the Kuwait Insurance Company. Analysis indicates, the scale of the insurance sector of Kuwait reached a market value of USD 2.95 billion in the year 2021. As per the reports published by the Kuwait Insurance Federation (KIF), the market grew by 4.3% in the year 2021. Direct premiums had a decent growth from KWD

527 million as of 2020 to KWD 549.7 as recorded in 2021. The life insurance segment took the lead in the sector in 2020, howev er in the year 2021, some reports suggest the health insurance segment dominated the market generating a revenue of KWD 275 million, which largely contribut ed to the total premium income by 50%. Comprehensive motor insurance claimed the second position with premiums generat ing KWD 75.4 million followed by

third-party classes of business with KWD 18.6 million. As per the reports, the magnitude of claims settled by the insurance com panies of Kuwait touched KWD 383.9 million in the year 2021 with a growth of 15% since 2020.

Kuwait is again one of the old est insurance sectors in the Gulf Cooperation Council to intro duce Takaful insurance products where the excessive profits raked are distributed among the poli cyholders. Takaful insurance is

is a lifesaver for the citizens

booming in the sector, although the operating costs are relative ly higher for companies as it in volves additional employees to handle the complex risk-sharing arrangements that aid a majority of the transactions.

During the rough year of 2020, Shlonik, a telemedicine software was launched in Kuwait to ham per the spread of the virus by constantly monitoring the pa tients while giving them access to medical care all day and night. As reported in March 2021, some of the top players in the insurance sector teamed up and launched a new Electronic Medical Record (EMR) system in Kuwait. The data aids customers to deal with interoperability, critical scalability and more.

As announced in February 2022, the Insurance regulatory unit of Kuwait made a key decision to provide insurance to nongrad uate expats for ages above 60 years at KD 500. With coverage of total treatment costs of KD 10,000 annually, KD 1500 for outpatient clinics treatment and KD 500 for ordinary dental pro cedures, the policy covers pretty much everything for the old folks.

In 1960, Kuwait-based Kuwait Insurance Company became the first insurance company to be es tablished in the country. With over 200 employees and 11 branches, the insurance company offers a wide array of Life insurance and General insurance products to its

millions of customers in Kuwait. Additionally, the company pro vides modern insurance products that fulfill Sharia laws. Kuwait In surance Company possesses technical reserves of an estimat ed KD 76 million and total assets of an estimated KD 205 million.

As reported in March 2022, Ku wait Insurance company in col laboration with Kuwait based Insecure & Secure, launched a meticulously designed travel in surance product called Globe travel. The product covers trav elers from diseases, medical emergencies, travel risks, med ical expenses for accidents & illness and comes with coverage for a duration of 3 years. In ad dition, the insurance also covers the costs of cancelled flight trips, quarantine accommodation for 10 days, flight delay costs for at least 4 hours, baggage delay costs for at least 12 hours, and costs for evacuation. Over and above, injuries ranging from sum mer and winter sports are also covered in the insurance and last ly it is priced decently. Moreover, KIC also provides round the clock customer service, overall making it a handy insurance product for flight travelers.

In recognition of its outstanding Insurance services to the peo ple of Kuwait, Kuwait Insurance Company has been awarded ‘Most Financially Sound Insur ance Company Kuwait 2022’ by International Business Magazine,

a Dubai-based global publish ing house. The award has been conferred based on its flexible insurance products and the com pany’s innovative policies com mended by millions of consum ers in Kuwait.

An upside jump in the huge cap ital investments made by the Government of Kuwait has fueled revenue to the Insurance sector as seen in the last few years, in addition to the mega project ac tivities, hike in the international oil prices and non-oil businesses in the country. Analysis suggests that a significant percentage of earnings to Kuwait’s insurance sector comes from business un derwriting, mostly from construc tion activities.

Kuwait is speculated to be the fastest growing insurance sector in the Gulf Cooperation Council in the next four years, growing at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 5.3% to touch USD 1.6 billion as projected in the forecast period of 2021 –2026. The demands will continue to rise for insurance in property, vehicles, health and more while tax incentives on insurance prod ucts, growing life expectancy, and more will propel the growth. There has also been an increase in digital mediums to quickly and easily avail insurance policies in the country.

Management Consulting Startups and Boutique Consulting Culture Boom in UAE

In the past few years, UAE has emerged as one of the top con sulting industry hubs globally. The UAE’s consulting sector is largely powered by a huge demand from its public sector, which is striving hard for diversifying its otherwise oil-dependent economy. In fact, UAE has succeeded to support the diversification strategy and has opened its doors to creating a surplus pool of businesses and investment from the rest of the world, incentivizing them with free trade zones, 100% capital re patriation, and limited corporate taxation.

UAE’s strategic location, favoura ble trading options, good connec tivity to all major cities, and ports via Land, Maritime and Air makes it a pivotal gateway to GCC, the Middle East and Africa (MEA) regions, MENAT regions, Europe an regions, Asia and more. This makes it a hugely appealing base for multinational firms. UAE’s

friendly business policy makes it the global SME hub, and SMEs account for 95% of the economy.

They also serve diverse clients within an array of industries and geographies.

The UAE is also a hub for 25% of Fortune 500 firms, start-ups and unicorns. The GCC consult ing market has grown at its most brisk pace in the past seven years breaching the 3 billion USD mark for the first time ever. Saudi Ara bia leads the GCC consulting market with an overall growth of 18.8 percent taking revenues to 1.8bn USD followed by UAE gar nering a 16.6 percent growth.

Boutique Consulting as an emerging Phenomenon

Boutique consulting firms are relatively smaller firms offering limited services for local client base and only for a specific niche platform. These firms have just

a single advisor or a senior con sultant, subject matter experts having tons of expertise.

These consulting firms are a rapidly building start-up, and unicorns that offer consultancy services at economical pricing as compared to large consulting firms. These consulting firms are largely having an informal culture, small and specific skill set-based expertise, adoption of entrepreneurial thinking in their operations, flexible strategies and procedures and quick resolu tion on operating modules. Smaller, yet efficient senior ex pert workforce offers efficiency in case of Boutique Consulting firms saving time and cost in volved. It aids in faster accom plishment of projects and hence better productivity.

Boutique Consulting firms are good at inculcating rich Entre preneurial Culture as they are run

through expert founders having pure entrepreneurial instincts and tend to have a workforce with similar skillset and instincts. Due to this entrepreneurial ap proach, a consulting firm’s cul ture moves ahead with boldness and courage.

Ever pondered why we are going indepth on Boutique consulting, Management Consulting Startups in UAE? Well, in this context we will be referring to the steep development of one such Bou tique Consulting Firm, which is Várri Consultancy.

Várri Consultancy is UAE’s emerg ing, modern and independent consulting boutique. Established in 2020, this UAE-based Boutique consulting firm has a keen focus towards developing core strate gies and analysing risk manage ment and they specialize in offer ing precision client-centered Risk Management Advisory Services. Spearheading Várri Consultancy success journey is its founder Johnny Kollins, a Senior Banking, FinTech expert having expertise in manning sovereigns, banks, non-bank financial institutions (NBFIs), supra-national entities, governments and entities owned by governments, and corporate entities in multiple industries across Europe, the Gulf Cooper ation Council (GCC) region and the wider Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, and his

dedicated expert team.

The firm’s core purpose is offering their clients effective solutions and operating closely with clients for curbing potential downsides, identification of modern day pro spectives, and spacing out clear paths to the future via econom ic, societal, and environmental sustainability.

Backed with their vision for finding apt solutions to future challenges while considering stakeholders Várri consultancy have offered their services to UAE-based Re newable energy investment firm ThreeEightSix and solar power company, Sun in Motion LLC –both headquartered in Dubai.

Várri Consultancy also offered its customary Business localization, and contract review services to the investment firm Pripen AB before it commenced its initial Scandinavian F45 Training studio in Gothenburg, Sweden.

International Business Magazine, a Dubai-based business publica tion house has recently conferred two prestigious awards ‘Best Management Consulting Startup UAE 2022’ and ‘Best New Bou tique Consulting Firm UAE 2022’ for their excellent business con sulting services as they possess passion and a drive to achieve high-impact business results.

A lead B2B research, ratings and reviews site recently conferred Várri Consultancy as One of the ‘Best-Performing B2B Compa nies in the UAE’. Várri Consultan cy has also received an award from Singapore’s online and busi ness publication, World Business Outlook, for its exceptional strat egy and risk management advi sory services. The titles credited by World Business are ‘Leading Strategy and Risk Management Consulting Boutique in the UAE 2022’ and ‘Leading FinTech Risk Management Boutique in the UAE 2022’.

The SMCFs (Small and Medium Consulting Firms) and Boutique

Firms have a long role to play in the coming years in identifying the best opportunities, mitigat ing threats from larger consulting firms, improving risk manage ment services, offering innova tive technology and automated credit services and more. They must also take a huge role in op erating alongside government authorities, addressing some of the core policy and industry-level issues that lock them out from working with public sector cli ents, including project portfolios that tend to disproportionately favor large firms.

the new revolution in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Fintech Powers

Saudi Arabia, the largest country in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) has witnessed a big up tick in the demand for fintech solutions since 2020, owing to the pandemic which served as a catalyst to fuel the surge. In 2021, the number of fintech companies increased by 37% as compared to 2020, while a massive invest ment of SAR 1.3 billion was made in venture capital into the fintech companies of Saudi Arabia. A survey done in early 2021 sug gests, 74% of Saudis have used

at least one fintech service which indicates the trends in the nation.

With a total transaction value of USD 42.25 billion as projected by the end of 2022, the digital pay ments segment leads the fintech industry. The average transaction value per user, centered in the Alternative Financing segment is expected to reach USD 98.83 thousand by 2022. Getting me ticulous into the analysis, the ne obanking segment is speculated to grow by 56.5% by 2023. The

number of users in the digital payments segment is expected to cross 37.62 million by the year 2027.

From E wallets to online lending apps and digital insurance aggre gators, the fintech industry has reshaped payments services al lowing users to carry out contin uous and seamless transactions. Several fintech companies in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia plans on employing Blockchain Tech nologies, Application Program

Interface (API), Artificial Intel ligence, and machine learning to further enhance their fintech solutions.

Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) has been instrumental in the devel opment of financial technology in the nation. SAMA launched a regulatory sandbox environment in 2018, which enables fintech firms of Saudi Arabia and also international firms to test their digital products such as peer-topeer (P2P) transfers, e-wallets, lending and direct international transfers before it is unveiled to the citizens of Saudi Arabia. As reported in April 2020, there were 26 applicants whose products were being tested with SAMA’s sandbox. Moreover, SAMA has plans on collaborating with UAE Central Bank to build on fintech solutions for cross border trans actions in addition to digital cur rency project.

As reported in January 2020, SAMA introduced its regula tions to supervise the payment services in the country. This en ables payment solutions com panies to offer their services. It also licensed banks to offer their electronic money transaction services while monitoring the ef ficiency and safety of payment operations.

Currently, the Kingdom is wit nessing a solid economic devel opment under Saudi Vision 2030 mission. It is a mission to reduce the dependency on oil and broad en the economy with infrastruc ture activities, tourism, recreation,

non oil trade and more. One of the programs established in the vision is the Financial Sector De velopment Programme (FDSP) which will heighten and mod ernize the sector to set world standards, and will greatly aid the growth of the Fintech industry.

Saudi based Emkan, one of the leading fintech companies in Saudi Arabia has been emerging as the fastest growing digital fi nance company in the kingdom. The company offers sophisticat ed financial products such as Microfinance, Top up Finance, Purchases Financing and Auto Lease. Furthermore, Emkan pro vides speedy financial services to the citizens of Saudi Arabia using its state of the art lending system.

As reported in October 2022, Emkan in collaboration with Sau di-based Al Rajhi bank launched a revolutionary loan program called ‘Emkan loan for social security benefeciaries’ to the citizens of Saudi Arabia. The loan can be availed without a guarantor and the procedure is entirely done us ing Emkan’s official mobile app. Available for employees working in government sector and private sector, the loan will be granted for the borrowers with a mini mum age of 25 years and not more than 60 years. Reportedly, it comes with the lowest inter est rate in the Kingdom, and the amount of loan starts from SAR 50,000 to SAR 1.5 million. In appreciation of its quick and easy financial solutions, Em kan won ‘Best Digital Finance

Company Saudi Arabia 2022’ at International Business Magazine. The award has been conferred based on its innovative and cus tomer-driven financial products with hassle free customer care services as witnessed recently by its millions of customers in Saudi Arabia.

SAMA made an announcement in January 2021 that it is develop ing Open Banking Initiative which brings an open banking frame work that in turn leads to greater efficiency by sharing customer data securely yet consensually with third party developers that will aid in developing innovative features like flawless execution of transactions, management of financial information, supplying real time credit and more.

By 2030, Saudi Arabia aspires to expand from 82 to over 525 fintech companies that would create at least 18,000 job oppor tunities. Digital transactions are expected to increase by 70 per cent within the next three years. As reported in June 2020, Saudi’s Financial Sector Development Programme (FSDP) introduced the Fintech Strategy Implemen tation Plan which further propels the growth while also aiding fin tech to offer more than financial solutions like investments, retail, real estate, hospitality, healthcare and so on.

The Towering Design Industry of Hong Kong

Establishments involved in the planning and design of residential and non-residential structures com prises the architects’ industry. Globally, the size of the architectural services market was valued at USD 344.9 billion. From 2022 to 2030, the market size is anticipated to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 7.4%. The increasing construction activity across the globe is the source of demand for such services. Moreover, rapid urbanisation in developing countries is also resulting in increasing commercial and residential construction activity, such as in In dia and Brazil. Furthermore, governments are also

concentrating on launching initiatives for low-cost homes in many nations. The demand for architec tural services, including construction and project management services and urban planning, is antic ipated to be supported by this increase in construc tion activities, which will ultimately drive market growth.

In almost every sector, architecture services have expanding potential. Many businesses are choosing to use architectural services such as space plan ning, schematic design, and interior design. These

services help businesses attract more customers and improve their guests’ experience. Also an ticipated to boost market growth is leading players’ focus on ex panding their brands and clien tele through strategic alliances.

Asia-Pacific regions dominated the market and had a revenue share of about 36.0% in 2021. Over the forecast period, the seg ment is anticipated to increase steadily. Rapid urbanisation, a ris ing population, and an increase in the number of industrial and residential construction projects in this area can all be attributed to the rise. Due to the presence of significant manufacturers and their expanding attempts to create new production facilities, China dominated the market for architectural services.

Speaking of Hong Kong, it has be come a popular site for a well-es tablished architectural design community and is home to the re gional offices and headquarters

of many worldwide design businesses interested in the Asian markets. Hong Kong has developed into a prominent vista for the world of Asian trends and styles as well as a regional design hub with a wide range of new ideas, products, and talents as the number of design businesses have almost tripled over the past two decades. Hong Kong provides both a thriving market for high-end design services and a vibrant pool of design talent, which has led to an increase in the number of architectural design firms based there over the past two decades, up 161% from 2,660 in 2000 to more than 6,900 in 2020. Hong Kong’s design expertise on a variety of building types and development projects is on par with the best in the world in terms of quality. Hong Kong is a world leader on designing for high rises, slopes, high densities, and limited space. It is wellknown for its high-rise structures, which are best exemplified by the skyscrapers in Hong Kong’s financial sector. These structures demonstrate how creatively architects in Hong Kong have used building materials, technology, and designs. These design businesses or firms are taking the architecture market in Hong Kong to a significant level. One such firm is LWK & Partners.

Factors that impact the Hong Kong architecture industry

One of the leading architecture and design practises rooted in Hong Kong is LWK & Partners. Its 1,100+ creative employees work together across a power ful worldwide network of 12 locations to provide toptier built-environment solutions. The diverse design team at LWK & Partners, which has experienced over 35 years of growth, pools their skills to offer a variety of services, including architecture, plan ning & urban design, interiors, landscape, heritage conservation, building information modelling (BIM), brand experience, and lighting design. Great design, in the opinion of LWK & Partners, has limitless po tential and can positively affect people’s lives. The firm has had over 36 years of growth and has fin ished a number of exceptional projects in a variety

of industries, including mixed-use, commercial, res idential, educational, transit-oriented developments, recreational, and public facilities developments.

The specialty of the firm is to provide sustainable solutions. The Burj Crown, one of their newest struc tures, is the latest eye-catching addition to Down town Dubai’s dramatic skyline. LWK & Partners was entrusted with the task of developing a magnifi cent, opulent residential destination at the heart of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Boulevard. As per the vision, a 44-storey luxury residential skyscraper featuring one, two, and three-bedroom apartments with thoughtfully designed floor plans and floor-toceiling windows offering mesmerising views of the city’s prominent sites has been created. Modern buildings in the world’s largest cities are envisioned and designed with ingenuity, creativity,

foresight, and dedication. LWK & Partners is dedi cated to these principles and offers clients and their communities with sustainable solutions. Conse quently, the firm was chosen as the winner of ‘Best Master Planning Consultancy KSA 2022’ title by In ternational Business Magazine.

Workplace design in Hong Kong reflects the prag matic nature of practise and the city’s distinct urban environment in a way that is distinctive. It moves

swiftly and at scale while being inventive and fastpaced. Offices can be renovated as frequently as every four years. It exemplifies the territory’s highly regulated but business-like attitude, which responds quickly to the demands of one of the world’s most populous places. Its members are from differ ent countries, and it always keeps a close eye on the swift changes taking place in mainland China. Hence, the Hong Kong architecture and design in dustry will expand more in the future.

Dubai’s role in the Global Oil Sector today

One of the most significant commodities in the world, oil, makes up around 3% of the gross domes tic product. Petroleum products are used in a vari ety of items, including medicine, clothing, fuel for vehicles, solar panels, as well as personal protective equipment, plastics, chemicals, and fertilisers. The price of oil is currently close to USD 100 a barrel. A booming economic growth is further driving the demand for oil. Technology solutions are also im portant factors that boosts the oil industry. Energy transformation is accelerated by oil and gas tech nology solutions. The energy sector is changing as a result of net zero targets, which are forcing com panies to reconsider their products, processes, and customer experiences. Asset monitoring is consid ered as a new emerging technology for boosting the oil sector or for maintaining sustainable energy solu tion. IoT-enabled sensors can offer remote access to usage and maintenance data of large equipment used in offshore drilling that is positioned in remote

locations with harsh circumstances. Oil refineries with IoT-enabled sensors can also supply real-time data to regulate performance parameters.

When talking about oil sector, the UAE can’t be missed out. The UAE is always renowned for its massive oil production industry. Oil, popularly called as “black gold,” has made the UAE one of the rich est nations in the world. The oil business has fun damentally altered the nation. The global stock of proved reserves is 46.6 times that of yearly usage. Thus, there will be enough oil for around 47 years (at current consumption levels and excluding unproven reserves). UAE has the fifth-largest oil and gas re serves in the world, with Abu Dhabi holding more than 90% of those reserves and Dubai holding 4%. While talking about Dubai, the offshore Fateh field in Dubai is where oil was first discovered in 1966. Dubai began oil exports in 1969 and 180 thousand barrels or more of oil were exported for the first time

from the Fateh field. At Falah, oil drilling exploratory wells started up production and it embarked in June 1978. With over 4 billion barrels of oil on hand, Dubai is the second-largest oil producer in the United Arab Emirates. Dubai’s oil production peaked in 1991 at 410,000 b/d and is still striving to maintain the posi tion. There are several organisations involved in this massive oil industry of UAE. One of them is Emirates National Oil Company or simply known as ENOC.

Contribution of Emirates National Oil Company to Dubai

Emirates National Oil Company (ENOC), a whol ly owned subsidiary of the Dubai government, de buts its first oil refinery in 1999. The refinery, which is estimated to have cost Dh1.5 billion, can make 120,000 barrels per day. It is a top integrated glob al oil, gas and coal industry player that operates along the whole value chain of the energy industry. Since the formation of the organisation, it has sig nificantly aided Dubai’s ongoing efforts to diversify its economy and pursued its sustainable growth. The organisation has always been the cutting-edge energy partner to provide sustainable value and per formance that leads the industry. It is continuously striving to provide superior integrated, sustainable energy solutions. However, it continues to achieve this by focusing on operational excellence, innova tion, and the satisfaction of its partners, customers, and staff. The Middle East, South East Asia, and Af rica are among the 60 international markets where the Emirates National Oil Company (ENOC) oper ates. These markets are also supported by ENOC’s

presence and influence due to its solid partnerships with a number of Middle East, South East Asian, and African businesses. Exploration and production (E&P), terminals (storage), supply, trading and pro cessing, marketing, and retail are the five divisions under which ENOC conducts business. ENOC Mar keting also oversees a variety of oil and gas prod ucts, such as industrial goods, aviation fuel, and gas and lubricants. Additionally, this sector interacts with a diverse group of clients in the Middle East, the Indian subcontinent, South and Central Asia, and Af rica. The marketing division handles local markets, as well as the needs for commercial supply in the CIS countries, the Middle East, Asia, and Africa.

Considering ENOC’s excellent performance in providing most sustainable oil and gas solutions to theUAE, International Business Magazine has awarded ‘Leading Integrated Oil and Gas Provider UAE 2022’ to the organisation. The magazine also awarded ‘Most Sustainable Energy Solutions Pro vider UAE 2022’ to ENOC Retail as well as ‘Leading Digital Fuel Delivery Platform’ to ENOC LINK, which is a fuel delivery business.

Investors can enjoy the most professional atmos phere in the UAE due to its established and promi nent oil business. Along with opportunities to net work with new clients and business partners, it also offers exposure to the oil and gas sector. Not to mention, the country’s convenient and expert infra structure and shipping for crude and processed oil products.

Leverage USD for Stable Growth in the

Forex Market

The USD/JPY pair hit a new 24-year peak at around 146.85 on October 12. On the same day, GBP/USD pair bounced back from the 1.095 mark, just hov ering around the 1.1100 mark. USD/CAD has been retreating since its highest level in May 2020 to land at 1.3830 mark on this very day. The EUR/USD pair is currently feeling the heat at 0.9700 mark. The US Dollar seems to be getting further boosts from its Feds thanks to aggressive economic policies. The market is livid at fresh predictions of another rate hike in the month of November. While the Bank of Japan (BoJ) shows no signs of a hike in its interest rates, the Bank of England has confirmed its with drawal from the UK Government Bonds. However, in order to calm the investors, a reversal to this deci sion seems to be inevitable.

The US treasury secretary Janet Yellen has con firmed that the US policymakers are not perturbed by the strong dollar. However, the British are expect ing significant monetary policies in the month of No vember to further subside the inflationary pressures,

stemming from the rising energy prices. The Ger mans are hinting at recession, sliding by 0.4 percent in 2023 and forecasting negative growth figures for Q3 CY22, Q4 CY22 and even Q1 CY23. Worth men tioning is the fact that oil is sliding due to a strong US dollar and due to fears that a global economic slowdown would diminish demand. This comes at a time when the OPEC and the US Department of Energy cut their oil production forecasts for 2023.

Betting on Big Cash

The volume of currency trading is reportedly more than USD 6 trillion per day as of 2022, which is larger than the world’s stock or bond markets. Traders in the forex market pit two currencies of two nations against each other. Basically, they make money when the exchange rate between the two legal ten ders move higher and earn short sale profits when it falls low.

Unlike the stocks, a forex trader only pays a rollover

fee instead of pumping in capital to open a short sale position. These traders handle those accounts where the money constantly changes its value in reaction to daily profits and losses. Clients need to read through the fine print of the trader’s documents in order to unearth any kind of hidden fees. Ideally, the fees are charged only for commissions, expert counsel and execution of withdrawal requests.

Ensuring the right opportunity

It is constantly advised to clients to prefer brokers that are duly regulated and to select the type of account offerings that suit one’s investment goals. The choice of the Currency Pairs available with a broker also helps in the selection process of a forex trading account. Finally, the platform used for trading should incorporate all the technical and fundamental analysis tools and features that enable quick decisions and easy exits. A

well-designed trading platform can prove to be the biggest factor for a successful trading expe rience. Many of the platforms today are coming with a bunch of customizations, various order entry types, automated trading options, strategy facilitation, backtesting options, alerts and panic situation handling and many more. A good forex broker platform will enable the investor to invest more time into analysis and strategizing, further improving the odds of success in the competi tive forex market.

Australia-based forex broker, Go Markets has grabbed our attention to win the ‘Most Trusted Forex Broker Mauritius 2022’ and ‘Best Forex Broker Mauritius 2022’ titles this year. Founded in 2006, the online forex trading platform offers Margin FX and CFD Trading to individuals and institutional clients. It is widely accepted as the first MT4 broker in Australia. Currently, other than Forex Trading, it specializes in commodi ties, Metatrader 4, Cryptocurrencies, Webtrad er, Multilingual account management, and CFD (Contract For Difference).

Go-To Brand for Forex Trading

Go Markets gives access to over 50 currency pairs and avails leverage up to 500:1. They of fer Shares CFDs with 200+ ASX shares, 80+ US

shares and 70+ HKEX shares with a leverage up to 5:1. Similarly in Index CFDs, Go Markets al lows trading in popular markets like FTSE 100, CAC 40, US 500 and ASX 200. It is also a pow erful platform for a range of precious metal pair trading and commodity CFDs.

The forex market is said to be steadily growing since 1970s, from a value of USD 5 billion to USD 5.5 trillion in 2017. The stable growth of the forex market can be attributed to the following factors - easy accessibility, regular fluctuations (leading to more trading opportunities), advancements in trading platforms and techniques, rising diversi ty and volume of the forex transactions, and the evolution of a whole new ecosystem that makes efficient risk management possible.

Reportedly in 2021, the forex market was valued at USD 2.049 quadrillion (2049 Trillion), with the daily market turnover at around USD 6.6 trillion. With over 88 percent of the forex trade compris ing of the US Dollar, it does not come as a sur prise that it is the most traded and relied upon currency in the world today. Reports are predict ing a CAGR growth of 7.5 percent till 2026. This could be further boosted by the introduction of 24/7 trading, high transactional transparency and higher trading volumes in the forex market.

Quitting is never an option in this world of opportunities

The modern-age HR takes diver sity into account, be it gender, re ligion, skill sets, and so on, while planning for talent acquisition. In a survey, it has been record ed that diversity is a top goal for more than 76% of managers when hiring new employees. Re search shows that diversity fos ters 1.4 times more profitable growth and generates 19% more revenue. Strategies for acquiring talent globally take into account the EGRP model. According to this model, while preparing for diversity in their global talent ac quisition strategy, firms attempt to use two methodologies known as geocentric and regeo-centric

approaches. Global conglomer ates use these models to impart their corporate culture to their regional subsidiaries while also taking into account regional cus toms and practices.

The global market for technolo gy and services related to talent acquisition and staffing is antici pated to reach USD 140.7 billion in 2022 and is further projected to grow at a CAGR of 5.7% to reach USD 196 billion by 2028. Currently, talent acquisition and staffing-related technologies and services hold a 13 percent mar ket share for worldwide human capital management. Over the

assessment period of 2022 to 2028, the demand for marketing and advertising is anticipated to grow at a CAGR of 12 percent. North America is considered a prominent regional market for tal ent acquisition and staffing tech nology and service providers. Its service market accounts for a 38% share of the global talent acquisition & staffing technology and services market. After North America, there are other coun tries witnessing a positive growth in the global talent acquisition & staffing technology and services market, such as China, MEA and so on.

In Search of Greener Pastures

A trend that is now growing at an even faster rate thanks to globali zation and the pandemic is mass talent migration. Talented and qualified individuals are increas ingly shifting their base to new er countries to procure a good career potential, better quality of life, and hassle-free education, medical and security facilities. One such popular destination is turning out to be Spain this year. Spain, Eurozone’s fourth largest economy, is enroute to a 3 per cent growth this year. Spain has one of the highest percentage of people with tertiary education

in the world, especially in tech nology degrees and many of the talent management firms across its regions are tapping on to this talent to revive the economy.

Spain has 17 autonomous re gions but one region that is cur rently under the radar of many talented individuals is a 7,234 sq.km. region in the northern part of the country, called the Basque Country. It sits on the north Atlan tic coast close to the border with France and encompasses the provinces of Alava, Biscay and Gipuzkoa. As of 2021, the pop ulation stood at 2,212, 561 peo ple according to the Institute of

National Statistics (INE).

The key industries in the Basque country are - Energy, Mobility, Aer onautics, Maritime, Railroad, Ad vanced Machinery, Electronics, ICTs and Biohealth. Some of the biggest employers of the region are Mercedes-Benz, Michelin, Sie mens, Progenika Biofarma, Noray Biosciences Group and a few oth ers. These companies have been undergoing several important internationalization process to meet the demands of the Asian and the US markets. One talent management firm that is keenly dedicating its resources towards this is Bizkaia Talent.

Connecting Talent with Purpose

Winner of the ‘Best Territorial Talent Management Company, Europe 2022’ award title from Interna tional Business Magazine, Bizkaia talent is actively involved in various programmes and services to de velop an adequate talent development ecosystem in the territory. Some of the initiatives are - Talentia and Skills programme, the Relocation service with the pioneering and innovative Be Basque Dual Ca reer Centre at the European level, the intermediation Service used by Basque companies and organiza tions to find the specific professional profiles they need in Bizkaia talent’s database and the financial aid programme to hire research staff in Bizkaia.

Companies like Bizkaia Talent understand the urgent

need of delivering skilled talent in advanced econ omies. Hence, they incorporate a global strategy to attract, and retain talent from across the globe. They constantly build up their database to meet all kinds of untoward incidences, like the pandemic. This way, talent management firms play a very impor tant role in keeping the economy chugging along. Talent management companies from regions like Basque are incorporating different innovative tools to analyze the right profile for the right vacancies. They bridge the gap between the companies in their region and talents from across the world. The suc cess formula behind companies like Bizkaia Talent is the evaluation of diversity and inclusion in the en tire process.

Today, when terms like Quiet Quitting and Great Resignation are being discussed in society, it is im portant to understand that procuring talent is one part of the challenge and prolonging that employ ee is another big task. Work from Home and Hybrid Work cultures, the by-products of the pandemic, are

proving to be a boon for some while a bane for many others. Many companies are revamping their work policies, which is majorly shaking the talent pool in most of the developed nations. The journey from discovering a spark of talent to the star of a compa ny is a perennial process for a Talent Manager.

New Leaders emerge in BAHRAIN’S Financial history

Bahrain’s Islamic Bank is looking for development in 2022-2023, after strong momentum in 2021. The sector needs to address the rising public demands for Islamic products and also expects im provement in the operating envi ronment. This follows higher oil prices, higher real GDP growth, the easing of Covid-19-relat ed restrictions, and an expect ed increase in interest rates or earnings.

Islamic banking remains impor tant in Bahrain, with its market share increasing to 38.8 per cent of domestic banking sys tem assets and 17.8 percent of total banking system assets by

end-2021. In 2021, Islamic banks’ total assets increased by 8.1 percent, outpacing conventional banks’ total asset growth of 4.2 percent. The total assets of the Islamic banking sector reached USD 38.6 billion because of the most used relevance of Islamic products, rising residential mort gage financing, a broad branch, digital banking network, a sup portive Islamic finance ecosys tem, and the presence of Islamic liquidity-management tools.

The central bank of Bahrain is working with one of the infra structure firms to check the Bitcoin payments and payout

solutions in the country. Until now, Bitcoin payments did not exist in the Middle East region. There are many players who are offering this payment infrastructure to help Bahrain grow its economy. Bahrain’s market size is small which is an advantage for its am bitious development as it allows businesses to collaborate more closely with one another and with the government. According to a top executive of the kingdom’s economic planning body. Bahrain is focusing on the technology sector to drive its economy and it has evolved as one of the top destinations for start-up invest ments in the region.

Size does not matter for Economic Progress

An Islamic bank in Bahrain, BOK International is uniquely posi tioned to leverage its parent bank’s rich legacy of over 100 years, while also operating as an independent full-service branch in the Kingdom and offering a full range of innovative Sharia-com pliant products and services. BOK International is the foreign arm of the Bank of Khartoum operating under a wholesale Islamic bank ing license granted by the Central Bank of Bahrain.

BOK International’s commitment to providing a wide range of banking products and services, including trade finance, deposit accounts, Islamic financing facili ties, Treasury, and correspondent banking services, will define our endeavor to be a leading provider of Sharia-compliant banking ser vices. It is operating with the ut most integrity, adhering to princi ples instilled in the bank since its inception to Maintain the values of Islamic banking practices to earn the complete trust of every client. It is creating a business en vironment of mutual respect and honesty, as well as a commit ment to protect BOK Internation al clients’ money and privacy and maintaining accountability for all business transactions in front of all clients and the communi ty. It promotes sound financial principles to achieve continuous growth and financial stability. It is creating a promising and re spectful work environment that

encourages personal growth, encourages teamwork, fosters accountability, and rewards per formance excellence. BOK Inter national CEO, Mr. Ahmed Darwish is known for his excellent perfor mance in the banking and invest ment sector.

Ahmed Darwish joined BOK Inter national in March 2016 as Chief Financial Officer. He is credited for establishing the Finance De partment at the bank’s second international branch in Abu Dha bi, UAE. In April 2019, he was ap pointed as the Bank’s acting Chief Executive Officer. He applied more than 15 years of experience in the banking and investments sectors. He is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) with the New Hampshire Board of Accountan cy, a Certified Islamic Profession al Accountant (CIPA) with the Accounting and Auditing Organi zation for Islamic Financial Insti tutions (AAOIFI). He has a bach elor’s degree in Accounting from the University of Bahrain.

A Visionary Leader for Growing Islamic Assets

Prior to joining BOK International, Mr. Darwish was the Vice Pres ident - Head of Financial Servic es at Sage Capital, where he was an active member of the board of directors of several subsidiar ies, representing and protecting the interests of shareholders. As Director of Finance and Opera tions, he was also in charge of establishing the Finance, Oper ations, Human Resources, and

Administration departments at Tadhamon Capital. Mr. Darwish has also worked as an external auditor for leading banks and fi nancial institutions in Bahrain for Ernst & Young.

International Business Magazine appreciates Mr. Ahmed Darwish for his excellent performance in the banking and investment sector, giving an award for his efficient work as CEO of BOK In ternational. He was adjudged as ‘Bahraini Islamic Banking CEO of the Year’.

Islamic retail banks improved profitability and asset-quality metrics in 2021. The capitaliza tion profiles of Islamic and con ventional banks were suitable and were competing at similar levels. Even so, the capital ratios of Islamic banks benefit from a 30% alpha factor. To reduce the effects of the pandemic, the Cen tral Bank of Bahrain continued to support the banking sector with policy measures in 2021. Ac cording to the Islamic Financial Services Board, Bahrain’s share of global Islamic banking assets remains small at 3.5 percent at the end of Q3 of 2020, owing to the country’s small size. It was, however, higher than Indonesia’s (2.1percent) and Turkey’s (3 per cent), both of which have larger economies.

Business Tigers of Bangladesh Power its Bull Run

World Bank’s reports suggests, Bangladesh has claimed its po sition in the list of top 10 fast est-growing economies in the world. Regarded as a ‘Tiger cub’ for its tremendous economic growth, the nation aims to be come a developed country by the year 2041. In pursuit of this vision, Bangladesh has recently seen various development activ ities such as MOU signings. The financial system of Bangladesh is made up of three categories com prising formal sector, semi-for mal sector, and informal sector. The formal sector incorporates banks, insurance companies, non-bank financing companies, Merchant banks and Microfi nance institutions (MFIs), broker age houses and many more.

The semi-formal sector main ly comprises of specialized fi nancial institutions such as the ones who finance home loans, non governmental organizations (NGOs), and financial institu tions that are not governed by the central bank of Bangladesh, Insurance authority, securities & exchange commission and other such financial regulators. The in formal sector comprises unregu lated private intermediaries.

Recently, it was reported about the collaboration of a UAE fi nancing firm with a top player in Bangladesh. Events like these are encouraging Bangadeshi en trepreneurs and NRB(non-resi dent Bangladeshi) businessmen to invest more in the country. Many M&A activities are being undertaken in the country to fur ther boost the import and export trades from Europe and Middle Eastern regions.

As per reports, Bangladesh is leading the market of mobile fi nancial services in south Asia owing to the nation’s regulatory policies that have fueled the dig ital transformation. Reportedly, at least 1 million digital bank ac counts were set up in the year 2020 to aid government-to-per son payments. Moreover, the gov ernment of Bangladesh used a medium called ‘bKash’ during the rough year of 2020 for efficient transactions of stimulus pack ages and monetary allowances. bKash is regarded to be the first in the country to introduce mobile financial transactions offering services like P2P (Person to Per son) money transfers.

Tycoons from the Land of Sunderbans

Bangladesh is known to have produced extraordinary talents over the years. A talent to be ad mired, A. B. M. Ahasan Ullah, the senior assistant vice president of Bangladesh-based LankaBangla Finance Limited has been com mended for his leadership quali ties and possessing an intimate knowledge of network infrastruc ture and security infrastructure in the digital world.

A. B. M. Ahasan Ullah started his career as a network engineer at a Chittagong-based IT firm in May 2006 and offered his character istic engineering services until December 2008. He later joined a Dhaka-based IT services and consulting firm as a senior net work engineer in January 2009 where he would go on to work as an assistant manager in the technical department from Jan uary 2011 until March 2012. His incredible career journey has currently landed him at Dha ka-headquartered LankaBangla finance limited where he is lead ing the team by supervising the design, selection and evaluation

of network infrastructure & network architecture domain through ICT (Informations & communications technology) based business require ments and addressing critical deficiencies. A. B. M. Ahasan Ullah was instrumental in a project called ANL CTG Network Implementation, a flat network to layer 3-based network during his services as senior network engineer in one of hisprevious companies. In appreciation to his outstanding contributions in various software and financial insti tutions A. B. M. Ahasan Ullah has been awarded ‘Excellence in Lead ership Bangladesh 2022’ by International Business Magazine, a Dubai based global publishing house.

Financing the Future of Bangladesh

Today, LankaBangla has emerged as one of the leading financial ser vices providers in Bangladesh. The company offers a wide array of products such as home loans, personal loans, credit cards and more. A special mention in its products designed for Small and Medium En terprises has been widely accepted and has fueled the development in the sector. In addition, LankaBangla introduced a product called Shi kha which significantly aids in the development of women as entrepre neurs and furthers women’s economic empowerment.

The future economy of Bangladesh demands solid reforms in policies to further propel the growth in areas of tackling the financial sector’s vulnerabilities, trade competitiveness, a systems approach to urban ization, digital development and more. Furthering the credit growth in the financial sector calls for a rise in the capitalization of banks, en hancing asset quality, resolving the rise of non performing loans and more.

As compared to several Asian countries, Bangladesh possesses an un discovered domestic capital market which can be used for raising long term finance, infrastructure projects and more. From financing private companies for green investments to financing based on the current climate risks, it is vital for the financial sector of Bangladesh to start funding more on Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME). Fur thermore, cutting down on red tapes for external borrowers, encourag ing financing through local currency and drawing foreign direct invest ments aids in supercharging the financial sector.

Post-Pandemic Insurers

Seek Innovative Insurance Initiatives

Appetite for investment risks seems to have risen among global investors post the 2-year-long COV ID-19 pandemic. With traces of a slow rebound visi ble in the economy, most of the central agencies of the world economies are tightening their monetary policies and increasing their interest rates to control the burgeoning inflation. However, on a more com petent play of events, insurers across the world are considering ETFs (Exchange Traded Fund) to man age liquidity and enhance yields.

Sustainability is going to be a focus keyword in the insurance market for the coming two years and re ports suggest that insurers are going to increase their sustainable investments by about 30 percent over the next two years. Considering the lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic and the chang ing geo-political scenario, many of the top global in surance companies are undergoing a technological overhaul in the coming years. The move involves moving into an end-to-end investment platform that covers the whole spectrum of asset classes while enabling integrated asset-liability and multi-asset risk management. While the pandemic exposed the

benefits of digitization, it also expanded the urgency of investments in more climate-friendly portfolios. Many insurance companies suffered a huge down fall in their brand value due to the simple clause that many of the policies did not cover losses caused due to the pandemic. The ongoing recession is fur ther straining the insurance industry.

Choosing the best cover

In 2020, the YoY profits fell by about 15 percent for the global insurance industry with the Asia-Pacific regions recording a fall of 36 percent. According to a Mckinsey report, although the insurance in dustry saw some rebound in 2021, thanks to mass vaccination rollouts, it still faces challenges from low interest rates, price comparison websites and sluggardly growth in organic demand for insurance policies in developed economies. There is also a looming threat that the insurance industry across the globe could lose its relevance soon as most of the demand stems from price increases rather than volume or new risk coverage offers.

Insurtechs are proving to be major disruptors of the industry with investments reported from USD 7.2 bil lion in 2019 to USD 14.6 billion in 2021. Some of the incumbent previously popular names in insurance are facing a huge threat from some of the startups that address the customers through their digitally enhanced client experience. However, investments are pumping in for product innovations and with the evolution of new risks, priorities are also reallocated for new opportunities in the Properties and Casualty (P&C) domain and the life insurance domain.

New Gold Standard for Consumer Expectations

Offline insurance companies are catching up with some of the online insurance companies and their ‘delightful’ digital features. Multi-channel, multi-ac cess experience is the new norm in the digital eco system of insurtechs. With revenues expected up to USD 60 trillion by 2030, these digital ecosystems are top investment priorities for driving new businesses. Many of the incumbent top players of their region al markets are already delivering tailored digital products and services. Many of these companies have reported stable and consistent growth in their

businesses thanks to their ingrained valuable oper ational practices. Through competitive pricing and products, high standards of corporate governance, and a low-risk, low-volatility but high-quality invest ment policy, many of the top insurance players have maintained their brand value through the grueling pandemic. One such company is the Oman-based Al Ahlia Insurance Company.

Established in 1985, Al Ahlia Insurance Company is one of the oldest non-life insurance companies in Oman. It is part of the Oman International Develop ment and Investment Company SAOG (OMINVEST) group. It offers a wide range of products and servic es for both the commercial and retail sectors.

In its pursuit of digital excellence, Al Ahlia Insur ance Company has developed its online motor in surance platform that proved to be exceptionally popular among motorists who yearned to conduct their business from the safety of their homes. The system is seamlessly integrated with the IT system of the Royal Oman Police. This makes the purchase process seamless, secure and fast for insurers.

Going Further, Together

Driven by a new sense of pur pose from their new tagline, ‘To gether, we go further’, insurance groups like Al Ahlia are venturing into several initiatives and devel opments to transform and stand out as digital leaders. They have announced several new devel opments in their pipeline which could usher in a new revolution in the insurance sector. Their ef forts earned them, ‘Most Innova tive Insurer Oman 2022’ title from International Business Magazine.

It is the actions from such lead ers of the insurance industry that hints at the upcoming digital fu ture of the industry. In the com ing future, these industry leaders are building upon the momentum they have achieved and are sus taining an approach of a custom er-centric and innovative operat ing model. In the presence of the rapidly emerging Insurtech start ups, the big investors need to contemplate beyond cloud transi tions and app developments and realize the real tangible benefits of these technological overhauls in their business ecosystem.