Category Archives: Archives

Financial Warfare: The Threat May Be Enough to Keep the Peace, but There’s No Room for Complacency

How do investors navigate a climate in which currencies are potentially unstable and the Fed and central banks stand accused of becoming printing presses? Read More

Posted in Archives, News | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

SMEs Are Crucial to Economic Development in the Middle East

Small- and medium-sized enterprises arguably hold the key to the economic development of the Middle East, but poor access to financing presents a challenge for entrepreneurs. Read More

Posted in Archives, News | Tagged , | Leave a comment

GIC’s Russell Read, CFA, on the Alpha and Beta of Commodities Investing

Commodity strategies have a major and multidimensional role to play in a diversified portfolio — especially for investors in the MENA region. Read More

Posted in Alternative Investments, Archives, News, Portfolio Management | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Islamic Finance Should Contribute More to Sustainable Economic Development: Volker Nienhaus

There is much potential for Islamic finance to promote sustainable economic development through such approaches as widening access to finance (including microfinance), financing infrastructure projects, and expanding the reach of takaful (Islamic insurance). Read More

Posted in Archives, News, Standards, Ethics & Regulations (SER) | Tagged | 1 Comment

An Important Report on Middle Eastern High-Net-Worth Individuals

At the Middle East Investment Conference, Khaled Sifri, CEO, Emirates Investment Bank provided unique transparency into Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) high-net-worth individuals. Read More

Posted in Archives, News, Portfolio Management | Tagged | Leave a comment

A President’s View of the Art of Negotiation

It isn’t often that you get a chance to listen to a former sitting president discuss the art of negotiation; and it is rarer still that you learn negotiating secrets from a leader whose peace treaty helped to end an intractable conflict and garnered him a Nobel Peace Prize nomination. Read More

Posted in Archives, News, Speakers | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Modern Finance Is Seeing Historic Levels of Speculation

Not surprisingly, the 2008–2009 global financial crisis sent many financial professionals looking to history for a sense of appropriate context and perspective to understand the magnitude of such a catastrophic financial shock. This, in turn, sparked a general interest in financial history, but with few professional sources to turn to. At the 2014 Middle East Investment Conference, professor Adrian Bell, head of the ICMA Centre at the University of Reading’s Henley Business School considered the question of whether or not modern finance existed in the Middle Ages. Read More

Posted in Archives, Economics, Investment Topics, News, Speakers | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Investment Professionals in MENA Expect Growth in 2014

Investment professionals in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) expect the local economies to grow and think that Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar present the best growth potential and investment opportunities in 2014. Read More

Posted in Archives, Economics, News | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Khaled Sifri’s Insights into Regional Private Wealth and Investment Banking

According to Khaled Sifri of Emirates Investment Bank, MENA’s new private wealth client is an entrepreneur versed in company growth and attuned to investment banking deals. Read More

Posted in Alternative Investments, Archives, Investment Topics, News, Private Wealth Management, Speakers | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Middle Eastern Intelligence from within the Middle East

News and geopolitical analyses of the Middle East coming from outside of the region tend to be monolithic: It’s all about the oil. Raghida Dergham has a more nuanced understanding of the region. Read More

Posted in Archives, News, Speakers | Leave a comment