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Friday
09 January 2009
03:26 GMT
Financial News Feeds 
Women in finance survey - PDF 91k
In September, Financial News surveyed 1350 women working in the financial services industry about gender bias in the workplace. Nearly 60% believed their gender made it harder to succeed. Just 3.5% felt being a woman made it easier to succeed. A third of respondents worked in investment banking, nearly a fifth in asset management, another fifth in financial technology, 10% in law and about 5% in each of private equity, hedge funds, wealth management and securities trading. Click here to dowload the survey results in full.
The future of capital markets - PDF 655k
The balance of power in global financial markets is shifting. As the world becomes flatter and different sources of wealth seek new areas of investment, financial institutions will have to position themselves carefully. Financial News examines how the credit crisis has catalysed this flattening effect and the challenges investment banks face.
Feature
FN Report: Credit crunch hits the Gulf
16 Nov 2008
FN Report: Credit crunch hits the Gulf
16 Nov 2008
It is no longer a question of whether the credit crunch will hit the financial markets of the Middle East, but how bad and lasting the impact will be now that it has.
While it may be too early to call the winners from the credit crisis, the Islamic finance community resoundingly believes their products will come out on top.
Investment banks have been redeploying staff to bolster their Middle East operations for more than a year.
Western-style relationship banking has arrived in the Middle East as competition for lucrative corporate accounts intensifies while sovereign wealth funds and private equity investors call a temporary pause on foreign investment.
Nobody can blame Islamic banks for feeling complacent. While conventional banks are dealing with estimated losses of more than $400bn (€312bn) from the credit crunch, Islamic banks have remained buffered from big losses. Supporters say there are lessons to be learnt, while others say it was luck.
Investors in private equity buffeted by the financial maelstrom are increasingly fixing their gaze on the Middle East and North Africa. But appearances can be misleading.
International law firms are expanding in the Middle East as fees in the west shrink in the wake of the credit crisis. Lawyers are seeking to capture dealflow from sovereign-backed entities doing outbound work and to advise foreign investment banks and investors.
One criticism levelled at the Mena region’s financial community is that it lacks the sophistication required to execute complex M&A and buyout deals.
With economies benefiting from oil revenues and historically cautious monetary policies, Gulf countries have not felt the dearth of liquidity as keenly as markets worst hit by the credit crunch. The region also does not have the pension drain on its finances, because almost half of its population is under 35.
The Middle East was every investment banker’s idea of a haven from the global financial crisis, but last month they found it had arrived on their doorstep.
Most Gulf countries are classified as frontier rather than emerging markets – although the UAE, Qatar and Kuwait are being reviewed for an upgrade by index provider MSCI – and their fund management industries have developed a reputation commensurate with that label.
Investors in Dubai are starting to feel the pinch as stock markets in the emirate, which initially weathered the global credit crunch, are taking a battering, financial stability totters and corruption scandals proliferate.
The potential for growth in Islamic finance in Africa, especially in the Muslim-dominated countries of the North, is huge.
The stream of financial institutions setting up in the Middle East to take advantage of favourable market conditions and the resultant demand for staff has created a need for employment and remuneration policies that take into account Islamic law.
Like any religion, Islam is complex and multi-faceted, and so it is no surprise that approaches to Islamic banking have traditionally varied in different parts of the world. Although attempts at industry standardisation are being initiated by associations such as the Accounting and Auditing Organization for Islamic Financial Institutions, the industry is divided about how far consensus should go.
The body of Islamic jurisprudence known as sharia law commands attention from private equity investors operating in the Middle East, North Africa and certain parts of Asia.
Profiles on the practices that are scooping the biggest mandates in the region.
State-backed developer Nakheel last month unveiled one of Dubai’s most ambitious schemes – the Nakheel Harbour & Tower, which will include a kilometre-high building. The inner-city harbour development will cover an area of more than 270 hectares and house more than 55,000 people. It is just the latest iconic project for the developer behind the man-made Palm Islands along the waterfront.
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