GULF COOPERATION COUNCIL
* The planned IPO of Saudi Arabian Oil Co., or Saudi Aramco, will unlikely take place this year following recent drone attacks on the oil giant's facilities, unnamed sources told Reuters.
* Saudi Arabia's Securities Depository Center, or Edaa, reduced the securities in the accounts of eligible securities' holders of Al Ahlia Insurance Co. SAOG.
* Moody's said the outlook for the Qatari banking system remains stable on the back of the continued spending of the sovereign on infrastructure, which would spur modest economic growth and support lending. However, the agency expects nonperforming loans in the sector to climb to 2.4% of total loans by June 2020 from 2.1% at 2018-end.
* Barwa Bank QSC
* United Arab Emirates Economy Minister and Insurance Authority Chairman Sultan bin Saeed al-Mansouri issued new regulations to govern the transformation of the insurance market to digital market, in a move that aims to support local financial startup firms and identify the operational and management environment of the sector, Al Bayan reported.
* Anglo-Gulf Trade Bank, jointly owned by AGTB Holdings and Mubadala Investment Co., aims to capitalize on a $1.5 trillion trade finance gap between companies in the Middle East, the U.K. and Asia, The National reported.
* Kuwait's Capital Markets Authority renewed the securities activities license of Gulf Bank KSCP.
* Kuwait Finance House KSCP said its Turkish unit has not received a request from Turkey's Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency to write off bad loans by 2019-end and to allocate sufficient provisions. The lender said it will make further announcements about any new material development regarding the matter in a timely manner.
* Bahrain sold two series of sovereign bonds, one being a U.S. dollar-denominated Shariah-compliant bond due in 2027 and the other a conventional bond due 2031, raising $2 billion, an insider told Bloomberg News. The deals marked the country's return to the debt market since its bailout by its Gulf neighbors last year.
REST OF MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA
* Israel's central bank is set to approve the establishment of a new bank, the first to be launched in the country in roughly 40 years, allowing businessmen Marius Nacht and Amnon Shashua to establish their planned digital bank. The banking supervision department already completed its review process and the central bank is prepared to issue a banking license and control permit.
* The board of Bank Hapoalim BM cleared the distribution of 1 billion Israeli shekels as cash dividend, Reuters reported. The dividend comes after the banks sold a 65% stake in its credit card unit Isracard Ltd.in the second quarter.
* U.S.-based investment banking advisory firm Evercore Inc. named Len Rosen senior managing director and CEO of its newly opened business in Israel. Rosen was previously CEO of Barclays Israel.
* Economists polled by Reuters expect the Egyptian central bank to lower its 14.25% overnight deposit rate and 15.25% overnight lending rate by 50 to 150 basis points tomorrow.
* Fitch Ratings affirmed the long- and short-term issuer default ratings of National Bank of Egypt (SAE) and Commercial International Bank (Egypt) SAE at B+/B and its national long- and short-term ratings at AA(egy)/F1+(egy), with stable outlooks on the long-term ratings. Fitch also affirmed the lender's viability rating at "b+", support rating at 4 and support rating floor at B+.
* Morocco's central bank left its key interest rate unchanged at 2.25%, saying the current level remains appropriate for its inflation and growth prospects in the medium term. The regulator said full-year inflation is projected to fall to 0.4% in 2019 from 1.9% in 2018, before accelerating to 1.2% in 2020.
* Youssef Fassi-Fihri, CEO of the Société Centrale de Réassurance, was elected on Monday to be Director of the Fédération Afro-Asiatique d'Assurance et de Réassurance, which has 245 members from a total of 54 different African and Asian countries, L'Economiste reported.
EAST AND WEST AFRICA
* Most Nigerian banks have complied with a central bank order to increase their loan-to-deposit ratio to 60%, Central Bank of Nigeria Governor Godwin Emefiele told Bloomberg TV. Emefiele said lenders that fail to meet the threshold will be sanctioned by Oct. 1.
* Nigerian lender Unity Bank PLC said its operations are unaffected by a fire incident that hit its headquarters on Monday. The fire only affected the building's third floor and affected employees have been relocated to offsite locations. No casualties were reported after the incident.
* Patrick Njoroge, Kenya's central bank governor, said the ongoing consolidation in the local banking sector will likely continue, Reuters reported.
* Ghana's High Court is expected to make a ruling tomorrow on the revocation of the license of Unicredit Savings and Loans, according to Citi Business News. The bank argues that the decision by the central bank to withdraw its license is a breach of natural justice. However, the central bank claims that the matter should have been handled at an arbitration level before proceeding to court.
* Fidelity Bank Ghana Ltd. named Edward Opare-Donkor and Samuel Aidoo deputy managing directors for operations and support functions and wholesale banking, respectively, Ghana News Agency reported. Opare-Donkor previously served as the lender's COO, while Aidoo was group head of wholesale banking.
CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN AFRICA
* Lobby group Business Unity SA approached a South African court to examine the interpretation of a law that requires a secret ballot before unions go on a strike in a bid to prevent disruption of the banking sector, which is poised to shut down as employee unions prepare for massive protests against job cuts in the coming days, South Africa's Business Day reported. The court in Johannesburg is set to discuss the matter today.
IN OTHER PARTS OF THE WORLD
Asia-Pacific: Alibaba closes Ant Financial stake purchase; Australia hints at further rate cut
Europe: Greece's Piraeus, German bank fined; top Deutsche investor looking for new chair
Latin America: Banco do Brasil, UBS ink investment banking MOU; Paraguay cuts key rate
North America: Md. banks in deal; Goldman eyes Europe M&A; SEC chiefs to attend House hearing
Global Insurance: Lloyd's culture survey; BRP Group IPO; insurers' climate pledge
Erin Tanchico, Henni Abdelghani, Sophie Davies and Mariana Aldano contributed to this report.
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This S&P Global Market Intelligence news article may contain information about credit ratings issued by S&P Global Ratings. Descriptions in this news article were not prepared by S&P Global Ratings.
