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Saudi Arabia seeks foreign direct investment to help diversify the economy away from oil.

The Saudi Arabia General Investment Authority (SAGIA) said that the number of new licences approved for foreign businesses in Saudi Arabia rose by 70 per cent in the first quarter from a year earlier.

Ibrahim Al Omar, the Governor of SAGIA, said that applications from British and Chinese companies drove the increase, rising by 86 per cent and 71 per cent, respectively.

The fastest-growing industries were education, which the Kingdom only opened to foreign investors in November, and information and communications technology, added Al Omar.

The year-on-year growth in foreign licences follows Saudi efforts to remove restrictions on international investments. Yet, fresh foreign direct investment in the country has been modest.

SAGIA is working with the World Bank to improve its ranking on the ease-of-doing-business index, where it currently ranks 92 among 190 countries.

“We are reviewing all licencing requirements, and you will see a 50 per cent drop overall from government departments in terms of the time, cost and number of requirements to invest in Saudi Arabia,” Al Omar said.

Source: bankerme

UK-based Jupiter Asset Management said that the Middle East financial services industry is ready to adopt technology disruptions as rapid developments in financial technology, new regulations to improve transparency and the rise of digital savvy millennials support an irreversible global trend towards financial innovation.

Banks and financial institutions in the GCC region are showing considerable promise in adopting financial innovation as well as collaborating with fintech firms to digitalise operations and provide new solutions to customers.

Guy de Blonay, the Fund Manager at Jupiter Asset Management, said, “Across the Middle East, and particularly in the GCC, financial services providers are demonstrating a commitment to innovation, securing a number of partnerships with fintech providers as well as adopting the latest technologies from cybersecurity tools to payment platforms and working with regulators to increase access to new technologies.

Jupiter Asset Management stated that financial innovators in the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, receives support from a Sandbox regulatory environment to facilitate the impact of new technologies as well as supporting firms in testing innovative solutions.

The establishment of fintech incubation programmes such as Dubai International Financial Centre’s (DIFC) FinTech Hive and the Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority’s (SAMA) Fintech Saudi, demonstrates the GCC bloc’s readiness to provide an environment for growth of emerging technology companies, added Jupiter Asset Management.

Additionally, the recent London IPO of Network International and Careem’s merger with Uber further highlights the region’s capacity to provide a fintech ecosystem for growth of world-leading technology firms.

Source: bankerme

DMCC – the world’s flagship Free Zone and Government of Dubai Authority on commodities trade and enterprise – has completed three roadshows this month visiting Sweden, the United Kingdom and China highlighting the opportunities available through DMCC for companies seeking expansion to global markets through Dubai.

DMCC’s senior management visited the cities of Gothenburg and Stockholm in Sweden for the first time with its Made for Trade Live international corporate roadshow. The events were held in partnership with the Swedish Trade and Investment Council (‘Business Sweden’), and with the support of the United Arab Emirates Embassy in Sweden, and the Swedish Embassy in the UAE.

80 Swedish business leaders and senior delegates attended the events, and discussed wide ranging issues such as Dubai’s economic growth, governance, regulation and trade; as well as DMCC’s infrastructure, products and services, and the positive impact Expo 2020 Dubai will have on the city’s local economy and the opportunity on offer to foreign companies.

The next stop on the Made for Trade Live roadshow was London. Staged in partnership with the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry, over 100 leading names of British business gathered in the room to discuss the opportunities for growth presented by Dubai.

DMCC’s position as a commercial hub and gateway to global trade flows was the focus of the discussion, especially within the context ongoing developments connected to Brexit.

To date, there are over 1,400 British firms registered with DMCC.

“Our mandate at DMCC is to drive new trade flows to Dubai.

These roadshows enable us to do just that by communicating the Dubai story and highlighting DMCC’s commercial appeal to foreign businesses. Our first visit to Sweden was very successful, and we look forward to working more closely with the Swedish business community and building partnerships in a new market,” said Ahmed Bin Sulayem, Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, DMCC.

 “With bilateral trade between the UAE and the United Kingdom expected to reach approximately Dhs 121 billion by 2020, it was important to visit London again this year.

DMCC offers British firms an unprecedented opportunity to expand their enterprise, and the economic impact of Expo 2020 Dubai should be appealing to all ambitious companies looking to do business in this part of the world,” he added.

 Peter Bishop, Deputy Executive Chief, London Chamber of Commerce and Industry, added: “The London Chamber of Commerce and Industry was delighted to partner with DMCC on this project. Representing the interests of London businesses, it made sense for us to support the latest Made for Trade Live roadshow and communicate the tremendous opportunity in Dubai for British firms.

Our members represent some of the finest businesses in the capital, and I was encouraged to learn of the support offered by DMCC to foreign companies seeking to do business in the Middle East, Africa and Asia and beyond.” Feryal Ahmadi, Chief Operating Officer at DMCC was invited by the Chinese Government to speak at the International Forum on Free Trade Zones Development, a two-day forum in Hainan focused on promoting free trade.

The event was organised by the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT) and The People’s Government of Hainan Province.

“DMCC has become a commercial hub and a critical connection point for trade ties between the UAE and China. Committed to driving the next phase of commercial growth between the two countries, DMCC has embarked on a comprehensive strategy to attract Chinese firms to DMCC.

We have launched a range of bespoke Chinese-language services that have seen a rise of Chinese companies set up in Dubai and register with DMCC. This is only the beginning and we look forward to creating more opportunity for Chinese firms in Dubai which will in turn, support China’s Belt and Road Initiative,” said Feryal Ahmadi, Chief Operating Officer, DMCC.

Since its inception, DMCC attracted over 3,000 businesses from 17 cities around the world to its international roadshows. The programme brings together business leaders interested in expanding their home base and offers them insights into the commercial appeal of Dubai and the opportunities it offers for growth in the region and beyond.

DMCC Headquartered in Dubai, DMCC is the world’s most interconnected Free Zone, and the leading trade and enterprise hub for commodities.

Whether developing vibrant neighbourhoods with world-class property like Jumeirah Lakes Towers (JLT) and the much-anticipated Uptown Dubai, or delivering high performance business services, DMCC provides everything its dynamic community needs to live, work and thrive. Made for Trade, DMCC is proud to sustain and grow Dubai’s position as the place to be for global trade today and long into the future.

Source: .Gulftoday

The bridge will bring the capital closer to the planned new free trade zone known as 'Silk City'

Kuwait inaugurated one of the world’s longest sea bridges on Wednesday, shaving an hour off the drive from the Gulf country's capital to an uninhabited area set to become the country’s major free trade zone.

The Sheikh Jaber Causeway, named after the late Sheikh Jaber Al Sabah who reigned during the Gulf War, is 36 kilometres long – making it the fourth longest bridge in the world.

Approximately 80 per cent of the bridge is over water and will connect Kuwait City to Subiya, where a 100-billion dollar mega-city is being built.

The bridge also makes Kuwait’s largest island 30 minutes from the Gulf state’s capital, having previously been a near two-hour drive.

The $3.6 billion causeway, designed by Paris-based engineering and consulting group Systra, took a consortium led by South Korea's Hyundai Engineering and Construction Co.

along with Kuwait's Combined Group Contracting Co four years to build.

The project is Kuwait’s largest construction feat to date and kicks off the country’s economic reform measures titled Kuwait 2035.

In addition to a free zone and port, Silk City envisions an airport, an Olympic stadium, a tower taller than Dubai’s Burj Khalifa, currently the world’s highest, and housing for up to 700,000 people.

However, some members of Kuwait’s democratically elected parliament have opposed what they say are laws that will allow the Silk City to function as a “state within a state”.

Some of Kuwait's top parliamentarians have expressed fears over how the project could fall outside of their jurisdiction, claiming that the laws governing Silk City could be completely different to those followed in the country.

The Silk City project is being led by the Emir Nasser Al Sabah, the deputy prime minister, and will see Kuwait partner with China to build the zone.

The opening ceremony was attended by Kuwait's emir, Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmed along with South Korean Prime Minister Lee Nak-yeon and the leader of the French senate, Gerard Larcher.

The Minister of Public Works and Minister State for Housing, Jenan Boushiri was also present, saying the bridge’s inauguration marks the first step towards Kuwait’s future away from an exclusively oil-dependent economy.

"We are beginning a new era in building Kuwait 2035, under the vision of your noble Highness and your high guidance, bearing in mind the aspirations of citizens and their aspirations for a better life committed to building a better tomorrow for the future of our generations,” she told reporters.

Mr Nak-yeon said Wednesday the causeway would establish Kuwait as an international trade centre connecting the Middle East with the rest of Asia.

Source: Thenational

Tweets from Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid state that there are around 6,800 investors eligible for the first batch of visas

The United Arab Emirates has launched the permanent residency system for investors and exceptionally skilled foreigners, the ruler of Dubai and prime minister of the UAE announced.

The permanent residency visa named the ‘Golden Card’ will be granted to investors and exceptionally competent individuals in the fields of medicine, engineering, science, and all arts, according to the official twitter of account of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum.

The first batch of those eligible for permanent residency for a "Golden Card" in the UAE reached 6,800 investors, whose total investments reach 100 billion UAE dirhams ($273 million), according to one Arabic tweet by the ruler of Dubai.

Another tweet added that the permanent residency will be granted to those who contribute positively to the success story of the UAE.

”We want them to be permanent partners with us in our journey. All residents in the UAE are our brothers and part of our great family in the UAE,” the Arabic tweet said.

According to Anir Chatterji, Middle East immigration & employment leader at PwC Legal, the UAE has been at the forefront of driving change to the existing immigration structure (which is broadly the same across the GCC) and for opening opportunities for highly-skilled professionals to benefit from longer-term residency - thereby offering these individuals greater investment security and stability.

“This new development of permanent residency is an extension of this policy and it is likely to be viewed positively by the ‘in-scope’ individuals and business community at large as it will open the doors to more foreign direct investment and, in turn, sustained economic activity and development,” he said in emailed comments to Zawya.

“Many expatriates call the UAE home and this new development will allow individuals to stay in the UAE for a longer period, which is welcome news for investors, entrepreneurs, specialised talents, researchers, and outstanding students (and their dependents),” he added.

The announcement follows the approval of the Saudi Cabinet last week for granting ‘green card’-style visas for highly-skilled foreigners and owners of capital funds with other sets of benefits as part of a ‘Privileged Residence System.

“The recent announcement in Saudi didn’t necessarily have a direct impact on this. That being said, there has been a drive to standardise a number of initiatives in the immigration space in the GCC countries, and to continue to find innovative ways to attract sustained economic investment activity and prosperity,” Chatterji said.

“This means the opening up of the historically static immigration regime is a key enabler for facilitating such change, and we consider that the recent announcement in the UAE is a welcome step for the business community at large,” he added.

Source: ZAWYA

The risk of an entire investment portfolio is always less than the sum of the risks of its individual parts. Many investors lose sight of that fact when making investment decisions.

When adding an additional security to your portfolio, you might look at the risk of the additional security only, not at its ability to reduce risk overall.

In this article, we'll explain how you can make your portfolio safer by adding risky investments.

Reduce Risk By Incorporating Risky Strategies

Hedging Strategies
Shorting a stock is always considered a risky strategy. You can, at best, make a 100% return on the position if the stock declines to zero.

In theory, the losses are infinite if the stock continues to rise. For example, if you shorted a $10 stock and it climbed to $50 you would lose five times your original investment.

Similarly, buying a leveraged inverse ETF is also risky. For example, the ProShares UltraShort S&P 500 ETF aims to provide performance that is the inverse of, and double that of, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index. So if the S&P 500 rises by 1%, the leveraged inverse ETF should fall by 2%; and if the S&P 500 falls by 1%, the inverse ETF should rise by 2%.

The above strategies would be considered risky, but if done properly in a portfolio context, you can reduce your risk instead of increasing it. For example, if you hold a large position in a stock that you cannot sell, by shorting the same stock in an equal amount, you have effectively sold the position and reduced your risk of the stock to zero. Similarly an investor with a portfolio of U.S. stocks can reduce their risk by buying the appropriate leveraged inverse ETF. A 100% hedge will insulate you from risk, but it will also effectively reduce your exposure to any upside.

Buying Insurance With Options
A put option is a risky investment that gives you the right to sell a stock or an index at a predetermined price by a specified time. Buying a put option is a bearish strategy because you believe the stock or the market will go down.

You make money on a decline, and the most you can lose is the price you paid for the option.

Given the leverage of an option, it would be considered a risky investment. However, when a put option is paired with a stock that you currently own, it provides protection against a lower stock price.

Unlike hedging, which limits your upside, buying a put would still provide you with unlimited upside. It is, in effect, like buying insurance on your stock, and the cost of your put option is the insurance premium.

Using Low-Correlation Assets
A portfolio consisting mostly of bank stocks and utilities is considered relatively safe, whereas gold and gold stocks are generally considered risky. However, buying gold stock rather than another financial stock might in fact lower the risk of the portfolio as a whole.

Gold and gold stocks typically have a low correlation with interest-sensitive stocks and, at times, the correlation is even negative. Buying riskier assets with a low correlation with each other is the classic diversification strategy.

Reducing Benchmark or Active Risk
Which is considered the riskier portfolio: one that contains 100% U.S. Treasury bills or one that has 80% equity and 20% bonds? In absolute terms, T-bills are the definition of risk-free investment. However, an investor might have a long-term asset mix of 60% equity and 40% bonds as their benchmark. In that case, compared to their benchmark, a portfolio containing 80% equity will have less risk than one with 100% U.S. Treasury bills. For the investor who has all cash, they can reduce their risk relative to their long-term benchmark by purchasing the risky equity.

The risk that your investment will not match that of your benchmark is called tracking error or active risk. The greater the difference in performance between the two, the greater the active risk or tracking error.

One of the attractive features of index funds and ETFs is that they are meant to replicate benchmarks, thus reducing the tracking error to almost zero. Buying an ETF that matches your benchmark is always considered a safer investment than an actively managed mutual fund, from the perspective of benchmark or active risk.

Understanding Your Real Risks

Many investors consider doing nothing a less-risky strategy than making a decision. However, as John F. Kennedy said, "There are risks and costs to a program of action, but they are far less than the long-range risks and costs of comfortable inaction." A safe investment portfolio of all cash will allow you to sleep at night, but can be considered a risky strategy if it falls short of meeting your objective.

In the long run, safe investments like bonds and cash will never protect an investor against the risk of inflation. Only by purchasing riskier investments like equities, commodities or real estate can an investor provide the protection they need against losing the purchasing power of their assets. In the long run, a portfolio of all safe investments will turn out to be too risky for protection against inflation.

Consider an American couple who lived in the U.S. all their lives, and then moved to Canada to retire. All the investments were left to be managed in a diversified portfolio of U.S. securities. Currently, all their expenses are in Canadian dollars.

They now have exposure to a weak U.S. dollar. By investing some of their assets in "riskier" Canadian securities, or by hedging the U.S. dollar with currency futures, they are providing protection against a weak dollar and making their portfolio safer.

The Bottom Line

Many investors look only at the risk of their individual securities, not at the combined effect on their portfolio. In fact, portfolios can be made safer by investment strategies that by themselves might be risky, but that in the context of the entire portfolio can make it safer.

This is especially true when confronted with the "real" risks that investors face long-term, such as inflation.

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Source: investopedia

Over the years, I have become a “data hound” looking for every morsel of wisdom I can ge to help me make smarter decisions. The good news here: accurate data is king.

 You can’t effectively manage your business without accurate data. Getting it is not always easy but without it you risk making the wrong business decisions -- hurting your business when you thought you were helping it. Allow me to explain.

Managing a sales pipeline.

In B2B businesses with long sales cycle the only way to assess the effectiveness of your sales team and predict future revenue is based on data your sales team enters into your CRM. 

Watch if a salesperson’s number of accounts is growing, how those leads are working their way through the sales funnel and total dollar value of the pipeline being managed.

But, think about what I just said: you are evaluating the success of your sales team based on the data they are entering (or not entering) in the CRM system. That creates multiple problems.

I have seen situations where salespeople enter false information to look more successful to save their jobs.

More generally, there is plenty of room for error any time you rely on humans for data.

For example, did the salesperson remember to enter a new lead into the CRM? Did they remember to update the status of a lead (e.g., from active to dead)? Did they update the dollar value of that lead from $20,000 to $10,000 after they learned the client didn’t need as many products as they first thought? Did they update the expected close date from April to June, after they learned the project has been delayed?

You get the point. Most businesses are making mission critical decisions based on future expected revenues from this data. More often than not, the data is not very accurate, updated or reliable.

If your CRM suggests you are working with more than $1,000,000 of potential leads, and your normal conversion rate is 20 percent, you would think there is a reasonable chance to close $200,000 in sales. That's money you count on to run the business, pay your bills and meet payroll. 

Bad data could put you in an illiquid position, unless you have a cash reserve cover the $200,000 that didn’t show up as predicted.

You need to scrub the data when managing a sales pipelines. Every week, remind your salespeople to update their data. In your one-on-one meetings with the team, talk through their list, line by line, to ensure what the system data is telling you is reality. Where you can, build automated systems that update data for any actions made (e.g., as new email leads come into business, they automatically get entered in CRM). 

This includes building in automated tasks and reminders to make sure the leads are moving forward and the salespeople are getting system-triggered actions they need to take for each lead.

Managing marketing spend.

The quality of your marketing efforts depends on the quality of the data being managed and studied. Typically, there are two problems. First, is your marketing team managing towards the right data metrics in the first place.

Second, is credit being given to the marketing channel that actually drove the lead? In a multi-device world it's not easy to get proper attribution.

Recently we hired an ad agency to manage our paid search campaign. We told them the key metric to drive was immediate return on ad spend (ROAS), defined as clearly attributed revenues from the campaign divided by marketing cost of campaign. 

A strange thing started to happen in our business: our low ticket, online ecommerce transactions started to take off, but our desired high ticket, offline B2B transactions were not growing at all.

 By telling our agency to focus on “immediate” ROAS, the only way they could hit the desired target was by focusing on smaller orders that were immediately ready to book online. 

That excluded the desired longer sales cycle leads we really wanted to be growing.

So, after six months of these learnings, we switched directions. We told the agency immediate ROAS was no longer the goal. We would be happy waiting until the end of our three-month sales cycle before studying our ROAS.

We switched the key metric to immediate B2B leads from the marketing effort. As soon as we made that change our quick, low ticket sales fell back to normal levels but our desired B2B leads rose to record highs. 

We were thrilled, thinking we had finally “cracked the code” to scaling our business.

But, did we? We did a retroactive cohort analysis of all B2B leads that came into the business over our normal three month booking window. What we learned was concerning: the B2B leads were coming into the business in record numbers, but were converting into sales at levels far lower than our typical conversion rates.

 After researching this further with our sales team we learned the leads coming in were very price sensitive.

They were shopping many websites for the lowest price and often needed last-minute deliveries that were impossible to fulfill in time.

So, now we are back to the drawing board, trying to figure out the right metric to find leads we can actually work with and properly attribute the leads so we are not missing anything important. 

We also want to be careful not to “throw the baby out with the bath water”. Maybe the marketing agency is actually doing a great job and something operational is getting in the way of sales converting. Time will tell.

These are examples in sales and marketing but I easily could have given you data-driven examples from operations, finance, human resources or technology.

 You are living in a world where accurate data is king. Be sure your business is driven by the metrics that are the most important and reliable for predicting and driving desired outcomes. The data is only as good as the effort you put into it.

Source: Entrepreneur

Card payments in the UAE in 2018 were recorded at 70% compared to 68% in 2017.

The e-commerce sector in the UAE is all set to record a strong performance over the next few years, driven by an ever growing number of online shoppers, who are confident about making various purchases online.

Experts have noted that shoppers across the UAE and the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region are enjoying the many benefits that come with using cards over cash for their transactions. The popularity of cards will only continue to grow as retailers in the region look to capitalise on their popularity with shoppers.

"With the world becoming more connected and consumers' trust on online shopping evolving, we believe that consumer spend via online retail platforms will see significant growth in the coming years," said Shahebaz Khan, general manager for the UAE at Visa.

"The UAE's e-commerce market is estimated to be worth $27.1 billion in 2022. The possibilities for merchants, financial institutions and consumers are enormous, and it is vital, therefore, that we continue to build consumers' trust and improve the infrastructure of online payments so that consumers can benefit from more seamless, rewarding and secure shopping experiences."

"We're seeing positive trends in terms of UAE consumers' attitudes towards e-commerce," he added. "As part of Visa's annual Security Week, we conducted a survey that examined how they perceive online shopping, with the findings revealing that 66 per cent of consumers in the UAE trust online shopping and that 70 per cent trust online payments."

Similarly, Girish Nanda, general manager, UAE & Oman at Mastercard, noted that transactions in the e-commerce space are growing at a much faster rate than transactions at Point-of-Sale (POS) terminals. "We expect this trend to continue in 2019 and 2020; there are two key factors driving this trend: first, the growth of online or e-commerce merchants with business models that can be scaled up faster than traditional brick and mortar models, and second, a growing number of retail, F&B and travel businesses going online with their operations.

Consumers across the globe now expect their cards to work across all popular platforms, whether it is for e-commerce, mobile wallets like Apple Pay, Google Pay, Samsung Pay or contactless payments.

The UAE is no different, given consumers' increasing demand for safe, secure and seamless payment experiences."

"We've seen a six-fold increase in contactless transactions in the UAE since 2017," he added. "In fact, one in every four transactions in the UAE is now contactless, highlighting two key trends: first, the country's gradual transition into a cashless economy, and second, growing confidence in card payments, mobile wallets and new payment technologies."

According to data published by Visa, cards are continuing to gain popularity over cash. When it came to digital transactions, card payments in the UAE in 2018 were recorded at 70 per cent, compared to 68 per cent in 2017.

Cash on delivery, during the same period, fell from 22 per cent in 2017 to 15 per cent last year. Visa's research also indicated that once shoppers have found new ways of payment, they are going to continue using them. Looking at contactless cards, 52 per cent of non-users said that they are likely to start using them in the near future.

Similarly, 46 per cent of non-users say that they are likely to start using digital wallets in near future.

Offering a review of the UAE's spend trends in 2018, Pankaj Kundra, SVP, head of Payments at Mashreq Bank, said that consumer card spends experienced a six per cent growth in 2018, compared to 2017. The biggest winner, he said, was e-commerce, which saw spending increase by 48 per cent as opposed to 2017. In terms of sector wise performance, growth was driven by food and beverage, which increased by 20 per cent, followed by a 16 per cent growth in supermarket spends. Hospitality continued growing with a modest increase of two per cent.

"While brick-and-mortar merchants have already expanded their product offering into the e-commerce space, this expansion may be at the cost of the cannibalisation of their traditional business, through the equivalent growth in their e-commerce channel," he said. "However, merchants who have been unable to expand their offering into the e-commerce space can expect to lose business to innovative and multi-channel competitors. The growth of e-commerce marketplaces, such as Souq and Noon, is encouraging increased confidence in buying online, which in turn is driving this growth. The UAE is also seeing a rapid rise in the use of e-commerce service providers like ride aggregators, who have delivered growth of 12 per cent, and food delivery services have seen a growth of over 100 per cent."

"For 2019, as we gear up towards Expo 2020, we are very optimistic about sustained growth in payments volume in the UAE," he added.

"We have identified four key trends that we anticipate will drive transaction volumes: continued e-commerce growth, contactless gaining more traction via increased usage of digital wallets, cash-to-card conversion in segments like B2B payments, education, government, real estate and sustained increase in international spends."

Sanjit Gill, general manager, Middle East at Collinson, revealed that the evolving world of loyalty means that brands must continuously adapt and look for ways to meet their customers' needs.

"Consumers shop through a mixture of in-store and online, providing data at every touchpoint in their browsing and purchasing journey.

This data is there for retailers to respond to, providing it is collated into a single customer view.

If used effectively, this single view can tell you who your customers are and what they want. If brands choose to ignore this data, however, they stand to lose out.

Our research found that 81 per cent of UAE consumers feel frustrated when promotions aren't aligned in-store and online. Not using available data effectively can leave customers feeling uncherished and as though their custom isn't a priority."

In addition, 78 per cent of UAE consumers would be unhappy if retail brands they were loyal to had poor communication around the latest promotions and discounts.

"Brands have a duty of service to offer better, more personalised communication experiences with the customer data they accrue, otherwise they risk people opting out of consent and losing their initial attention, and perhaps in the long term, their loyalty," he said.

Source: khaleejtimes

People can do more than just chat on messaging app, as first 'chat bank' service rolls out.

Dubai: So much has changed in the way people communicate and share updates since the introduction of social media and instant messaging apps. Now, the way people bank is changing, too.

One of the leading financial institutions in UAE has rolled out for the first time a chat banking solution, enabling savers and banking customers in the country to execute financial transactions on WhatsApp.

Emirates NBD confirmed on Sunday that its customers can now “chat bank” via the instant messaging app, said to be a first in the Middle East region.

The new service seeks to tap the growing population of consumers who bank via the internet on a regular basis.

The bank said it has seen a rapid increase in digital transactions, with over half of its customers actively using mobile and online banking The latest innovative solution is made possible through Infobip, an easy-to-use secure channel that lets people do banking transactions without having to log in to their online accounts or walk into a physical branch.

With the “chat bank” service, customers, particularly those who are constantly on their mobile phones, can now check via WhatsApp their account balances, the last five transactions of their accounts or credit cards and last credit-card mini statements.

They can also temporarily block or unblock cards and request for new chequebooks or the latest foreign exchange rates.

Lest users are afraid the transaction can easily get hacked into by fraudsters, the bank assured that all messages on its “WhatsApp Business” account are encrypted.

To ensure the communication is secure and official, customers only need to watch out for the green badge next to the bank’s name in the chat window.

And what’s more, customers can bank via WhatsApp anytime, as it’s available 24/7.

“We believe the new offering will complement our existing ddigital banking channels and offer security along with the simplicity and convenience of instant responses, 24/7,” said Abdulla Qassem, group chief operating officer of Emirates NBD.

“WhatsApp is a simple, reliable and private way to talk to anyone in the world, which will lend further convenience to banking with Emirates NBD," added Suvo Sarkar, senior vice president, head of retail banking and wealth management at Emirates NBD.

How to subscribe?

Customers are requested to SMS ‘WhatsApp’ to 4456 using their registered mobile number, or alternatively, they can subscribe through mobile or online banking, to start banking via WhatsApp.

Source: gulfnews

من المتوقع أن ينخفض معدل النمو الاقتصادي في منطقة الشرق الأوسط وشمال أفريقيا انخفاضا طفيفا إلى 1.5% عام 2019 من 1.6% عام 2018، وفقا لتقرير جديد صادر عن البنك الدولي. وعلى الرغم من انخفاض النمو هذا العام، من المتوقع أن يشهد معدل النمو الإقليمي زيادة معتدلة إلى 3.4% في 2020 و2.7% في 2021.

يشير التقرير، والذي صدر اليوم، إلى أن النمو المتوقع في المنطقة تتصدره البلدان النامية المستوردة للنفط مثل مصر، التي تشكل نحو 8% من إجمالي الناتج المحلي للمنطقة، والتي من المتوقع أن تحقق نموا بنسبة 5.5% في عام 2019، وبمعدلات أعلى في 2020-2021. ومن المتوقع أن يصل النمو في دول مجلس التعاون الخليجي إلى 2.1% في 2019. إن انتعاش النمو في مصر ودول مجلس التعاون هو نتيجة جزئية وغير مباشرة لسياسات الإصلاح المحلية. وفي الوقت نفسه، فإن تراجع النمو المتوقع في أكبر أسواق صادرات المنطقة وهي الاتحاد الأوروبي والولايات المتحدة والصين، سيكون له تأثير سلبي عليها.

وقال فريد بلحاج نائب رئيس البنك الدولي لمنطقة الشرق الأوسط وشمال أفريقيا: "إننا نحث المنطقة على تبني إصلاحات طموحة". "هناك حاجة ملحة اليوم للنهوض بإصلاحات لتحسين الإنتاجية وتشجيع الابتكار والمنافسة. سيكون هناك 300 مليون شاب في الشرق الأوسط وشمال أفريقيا يتطلعون لدخول سوق العمل بحلول عام 2050. ولا يمكن للمنطقة أن تنجح إلا إذا عالجت العوائق الهيكلية أمام النمو. ونلاحظ اليوم أن البلدان التي تبنت إجراءات صعبة لتنفيذ إصلاحات تتعلق بالسياسات هي المحرك للنمو الاقتصادي في منطقة الشرق الأوسط وشمال أفريقيا. "

ولا يغير الانتعاش الطفيف المتوقع في النمو في السنوات المقبلة الصورة طويلة الأجل للنمو الباهت لنصيب الفرد من إجمالي الناتج المحلي والعجز المستمر في المعاملات الجارية في عدة بلدان نامية في المنطقة.  يشهد الكثير من البلدان المستوردة للنفط عجزا كبيرا ومستمرا في التجارة والمعاملات الجارية منذ أكثر من عقد. وعلى النقيض من ذلك، تمتعت البلدان المصدرة للنفط في المنطقة تاريخيا بفوائض كبيرة في المعاملات الجارية، لكن هذا الوضع تغير في السنوات القليلة الماضية. وحد التدهور في الأرصدة الخارجية من قدرة المنطقة على إعادة توزيع الوفورات من البلدان المصدرة للنفط مرتفعة الدخل إلى البلدان النامية التي تعاني من عجز مستمر في المعاملات الجارية، وخاصة منذ إعادة الهيكلة العالمية لسوق النفط في عام 2014.

يبرز التقرير الجديد وعنوانه "الإصلاحات والاختلالات الخارجية: الصلة بين العمالة والإنتاجية في منطقة الشرق الأوسط وشمال أفريقيا" الحاجة الملحة إلى المزيد من الإصلاحات الهيكلية التي يمكن أن ترفع إجمالي إنتاجية العمالة من أجل زيادة النمو وتقليل الاختلالات الخارجية في المنطقة في آن واحد.

وذكر رباح أرزقي، رئيس الخبراء الاقتصاديين لمنطقة الشرق الأوسط وشمال أفريقيا في البنك الدولي والمؤلف الرئيسي للتقرير: "ينبغي أن تحقق بلدان منطقة الشرق الأوسط وشمال أفريقيا ضعف معدلاتها الحالية من النمو على الأقل. ولإفساح الطريق للاستفادة من إمكاناتها غير المستغلة، يتعين على المنطقة تحويل اقتصادها، وتعزيز روح التنافس في السوق، واعتماد نهج لانطلاقة كبرى في الاقتصاد الرقمي".

ويدفع التقرير بأن العجز الزائد الحالي في المعاملات الجارية يجب أن يتقلص تدريجيا، بدلا من الانتظار حتى تفرض التراجعات في تدفقات رؤوس الأموال تغييرا في اتجاه العجز في المعاملات الجارية على بلدان المنطقة.

ويؤكد التقرير أن كلا من التغيرات السكانية وإجمالي إنتاجية العمالة هي المحركات الأساسية لرصيد المعاملات الجارية في أي اقتصاد. وهناك حاجة ماسة لتنفيذ إصلاحات هيكلية من أجل تحقيق زيادة في إجمالي إنتاجية العمالة. وتشمل هذه الإصلاحات: إصلاح مصروفات الموازنة التي يمكن أن تساعد من خلال زيادة وفورات المالية العامة، وتعزيز إنتاجية العمالة عندما يعرقل الدعم المنافسة في السوق، والإصلاحات التجارية التي تهدف إلى خفض تكاليف التجارة بما يتجاوز التعريفات الجمركية للمساعدة في دمج المنطقة في سلاسل القيمة العالمية، وإصلاحات سوق العمل لتعزيز إنتاجية العمالة مع توفير شبكة ضمان للعمال الذين فقدوا وظائفهم، والإصلاحات الذكية في الشركات المملوكة للدولة في صناعات الشبكات، مثل الطاقة والاتصالات، وذلك للمساعدة في تحسين كفاءة الشركات وكذلك زيادة إجمالي إنتاجية العمالة.

المصدر: البنك الدولي

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