Investment

Bitcoin and Ethereum touch all-time high in October

October marked a record-breaking month for cryptocurrencies with Bitcoin touching its all-time high in October. With bitcoin price soaring, the market cap for bitcoin also breached the 1 trillion threshold. The second largest cryptocurrency – Ethereum, also touched its all-time high of USD 4,402 in October, on the back of upward crypto momentum and a recent technical upgrade to the Ethereum network. Ethereum based meme cryptocurrency – Shiba Inu soared 155% in the last week of October and 1,000% over...

Private sector participation in Saudi Healthcare picks up pace

Saudi Arabia has recently undertaken initiatives to increase private sector participation in its healthcare sector and improve competency of its healthcare workforce. The country has also highlighted key segments of focus in the healthcare sector. Saudi Arabia’s growing population with expected increase in average age and rising lifestyle related diseases are indicative of the uptrend in demand for healthcare in the country. As the Saudi Healthcare sector is predominantly operated by Ministry of Health (MoH), the demand could overload public...

Changing consumer habits amid COVID-19 accelerates decline of Saudi Arabia bank branches

Bank branches operating in Saudi Arabia have reduced by 4.6% y/y in Q2 2021 to 1,969 branches (SAMA). The number of branches had been on a year-on-year declining trend since Q3 2020, with the current quarter posting the highest decline. The number of ATMs has also decreased by 9% y/y in Q2 2021. Operational considerations and uptake of digital banking, accelerated by COVID-19, seem to have contributed to the trend. Total Bank Branches in Saudi Arabia Source: SAMA According to...

Profits at UAE’s major lenders reached USD 4 billion in H1 2021

Profits at the four largest UAE banks rose during the first half of 2021 after an improvement in the operating environment led to lower loan-loss provisions, rise in non-interest income and improvement in operating efficiency. The combined net profit of four major banks, First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB), Emirates NBD (ENBD), Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank (ADCB), and Dubai Islamic Bank (DIB) reached USD 4 billion in H1 2021, up 17% from the same period last year. The four big banks...

Foreign investment in Saudi stock market up by 150%

It is reported that the foreign investment in the Kingdom's stock market increased by more than 150 percent by the end of Q2 2021, compared to late 2018. Banking, basic materials, energy and communications attracted the most foreign investment. This can be attributed to the Saudi Arabia’s efforts to develop the financial market and expand the institutional investment base. The value of foreign investment in Saudi Stock Market was USD 73.6 billion in 2021Q2 comprising mainly of Qualified Foreign Investors...

GCC Asset Management and its challenges

Interview with Mr. M.R.Raghu, CEO, Marmore MENA Intelligence How big is GCC Asset Management industry and who are the major players? The GCC Asset Management Industry manages around USD 59 billion in assets, spread across 223 funds across the region. The Saudi asset management industry leads the region managing 87% of the assets and having 57% of the funds domiciled in the country. Kuwait comes in at a distant second, having 5% of the total AUM domiciled in the county....

Major Global Investment Themes of 2020 – Tech stocks and Cryptocurrencies

التكنولوجيا stocks benefit from the pandemic and significantly outperform the benchmark index The top tech companies in the world were among the big winners with the pandemic accelerating the adoption of technology. Apple, Amazon, Netflix, Google, Facebook and Microsoft stocks saw huge gains this year as demand for e-commerce, online advertising and cloud computing during the pandemic led to soaring revenues. Social distancing guidelines resulted in many employees working from home. The biggest winner due to this shift was Zoom...

Implications of COVID-19 on GCC Asset Classes

COVID-19 has rendered economic outlook and companies’ performance projections for 2020 meaningless in a single stroke. Heightened uncertainty has become an everyday reality in the current times. As the coronavirus scare continues, the world is faced with multidimensional issues and tough questions, be it finding an effective treatment for the virus, zeroing in on an optimal quantum of stimulus or deciding the right time to lift lockdowns. With measures like social distancing and lockdowns affecting day-to-day lives of people, asset...

Foreign investment in GCC equity markets – Will the inflow levels sustain after index inclusions?

GCC countries are in the process of opening their economies to make them more attractive to foreign investors. The inflow of foreign funds through FDI would augur well for diversification of these economies away from oil to reduce their large oil dependence more so because its markets are cyclical and volatile. Attracting investments in non-oil sectors through equity markets is also one of the means to achieve this goal. Foreign equity inflows into GCC capital markets is expected to rise...

Saudi Corporate Capital Spending – An Encouraging Boost to Non-Oil GDP

Capital Investment is a harbinger of future growth as the fruits from today’s investments will appear in the future. Saudi Corporate sector has invested large resources in capital expenditure in 2018 which is much higher than their total net income earned during the year. The Corporate sector as represented by 120 (non-financial) listed Companies included in Tadawul All Share Index (TASI) of Saudi Stock Market, was examined to measure change in Property, Plant & Equipment (PPE), gross of depreciation (Capex)...