MIDDLE EAST
* Bank Leumi le-Israel BM
* Israel Discount Bank Ltd.
* The Warsaw stock exchange submitted a nonbinding offer with Polish development fund PFR to acquire a 71.7% stake in Tel - Aviv Stock Exchange Ltd.
* Israel's Capital Markets, Insurance and Savings Authority set out new corporate governance guidelines that would see a controlling shareholder in a financial company barred from chairing that company's board, among other proposed changes.
* The IMF said the direct economic and financial impact for Qatar resulting from its diplomatic rift with some neighboring Arab states is fading, noting that Qatar's banking sector has adjusted to a new funding model following a wave of deposit outflows resulting from the dispute. Meanwhile, Mohamed Damak, global head of Islamic finance at S&P Global Ratings, said the ongoing standoff remains the biggest geopolitical risk facing banks in the Gulf Cooperation Council area this year, followed by political instability in Iran and Saudi Arabia.
* Commercial Bank (PSQC)
* Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered the government to address a dispute with banks contesting additional payments that they must make for Islamic tax, or zakat, insiders told Reuters. The General Authority of Zakat and Tax is asking lenders to pay additional zakat for years as far back as 2002, potentially costing 11 of the country's 12 listed banks approximately 9.8 billion Saudi Arabian riyals.
* Banque Saudi Fransi
* Bank of New York Mellon Corp. intends to open an office in Riyadh as early as the second quarter and apply for an asset services license from the Saudi Capital Market Authority, insiders told Reuters. Meanwhile, JPMorgan Chase & Co.
* A number of banks in the UAE have banned online trading transactions in cryptocurrencies, Khaleej Times reported.
* Fitch Ratings downgraded Bahrain's long-term foreign- and local-currency issuer default ratings to BB- from BB+, with a stable outlook.
* The European Union is poised to remove Bahrain and two other jurisdictions from its blacklist of tax havens next week, cutting the number of jurisdictions in the list to six from the initial 17, Reuters reported.
* Arabia Falcon Insurance Co. launched its IPO on March 6, offering 25 million shares for 190 Omani baiza apiece.
* Mishaal al-Usaimi, vice chairman of Kuwait's Capital Markets Authority, told Bloomberg Television that the regulator is carrying out studies for the potential listing of Boursa Kuwait until the end of April, and plans to complete it by the end of the year.
* A consortium comprising the Civil Servants Pension Fund, the Agricultural Rural and Nomadic Pension Fund, and Social Security Investment Co. bought a 17.14% stake in Alborz Insurance Co.
* The U.S. Supreme Court refused to take up Bank Melli Iran Inc.'s
NORTH AFRICA
* EFG-Hermes Holding SAE
* Delta Insurance Co.
* The African Export-Import Bank
* Banque Centrale Populaire reported full-year 2017 net income group share of 2.84 billion Moroccan dirhams, up 7.5% from the year-ago 2.64 billion dirhams.
* The Banque Centrale de Tunisie raised its key interest rate to 5.75% from 5%.
S&P Global Ratings and S&P Global Market Intelligence are owned by S&P Global Inc.
