* The market for loans linked to environmental, social and governance performance is growing rapidly, according to a new S&P Global Ratings report.
* Jean-Yves Le Drian, France's foreign minister, said the country is leading an initiative to offer Iran an international credit line of $15 billion in a bid to reduce tensions between the Middle Eastern nation and the west and save the 2015 nuclear accord, the Financial Times reported.
GULF COOPERATION COUNCIL
* U.S. asset manager BlackRock Inc. recently opened an office in Saudi Arabia, which is headed by Yazeed Almubarak, Reuters reported. The move is part of BlackRock's bid to capitalize on the country's reform agenda.
* Saudi Arabia has named Yasir al-Rumayyan, the head of sovereign wealth fund Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia, as the new chairman of Saudi Arabian Oil Co., replacing Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih, Bloomberg News reported.
* Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul) CEO Khalid al-Hussan said foreign investors' ownership in the exchange, which now stands at more than 8%, is expected to reach 10% by the end of 2019, Argaam reported, citing Al Arabiya Television.
* United Arab Emirates-based payments firm Finablr PLC, which recently floated in London, has joined the FTSE 250 index, following the exit of British fund manager Neil Woodford's Woodford Patient Capital Trust, The Times of London reported.
* The UAE's Securities and Commodities Authority fined Invest Bank PSC and two other listed firms for failure to disclose their financial statements, Aliqtisadi wrote.
* Shares in Emirates NBD Bank PJSC rose sharply Sept. 2 after the Dubai-based lender said it increased its foreign ownership limit to 20% from 5%, having received regulatory approval. The bank also plans to further raise the threshold to up to 40%.
* Qatar-based Commercial Bank (PSQC) recently closed a three-year $250 million syndicated loan aimed at meeting its general funding and working capital needs.
* Oman Housing Bank S.A.O.C. said it approved 630 government-backed loans totaling more than 26.8 million rials in the first half, Muscat Daily reported.
* Oman's Bank Muscat SAOG plans to expand premier banking services in more locations across the country, Abdulnasir al-Raisi, deputy general manager for premier banking at the lender, told Muscat Daily.
* Bahrain-based private equity firm Investcorp Bank B.S.C. has finalized its acquisition of a majority stake in CM Investment Partners LLC, which acts as the investment adviser to Investcorp Credit Management BDC Inc, formerly known as CM Finance Inc.
* Ahli United Bank BSC said the due diligence studies related to the potential acquisition offer by Kuwait Finance House KSCP have been completed and submitted to the Bahraini lender's board of directors for review and evaluation.
* Kuwait's Capital Markets Authority renewed the securities activities license of Boursa Kuwait Securities Co. K.P.S.C. Additionally, the regulator, which owns 50% of Boursa Kuwait Securities said it plans to launch an IPO of its shares in the bourse in the fourth quarter, TradeArabia reported.
REST OF MIDDLE EAST
* State-owned Bimeh Iran (Iran Insurance Co.) is looking to increase its capital to 100 trillion rials from 34 trillion rials by the time the current calendar year is out in March 2020, Financial Tribune reported, citing board member Mohammad Rezaee.
* Fitch Ratings affirmed Israel's long- and short-term foreign- and local-currency issuer default ratings at A+/F1+ and its country ceiling at AA, with stable outlooks on the long-term ratings.
* Lebanese Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri said the government plans to reduce the budget deficit to 7% of GDP in 2020 under reforms aimed at preventing further deterioration of public debt, Reuters reported, citing al-Hariri's interview with CNBC.
* The U.S. Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned Lebanon's Jammal Trust Bank SAL and its units Trust Insurance SAL, Trust Insurance Services SAL, and Trust Life Insurance Co. SAL, saying the lender "knowingly facilitates" banking activities for militant group Hizballah. However, the lender said it "denies each and every allegation" and that it will appeal against the sanctions, Reuters reported.
* Jammal Trust Bank may eventually be forced to either allow the central bank to take over its operations or sell its clean assets to another lender, several bankers told The Daily Star. Meanwhile, Lebanese central bank Governor Riad Salamé said he is following developments related to the matter and reiterated that deposits with the U.S. sanctions-hit lender are safe, the newspaper said in a separate report.
* Lebanon's central bank is set to receive roughly $1 billion in either deposits or subscriptions to sovereign eurobonds soon, insiders told The Daily Star.
NORTH AFRICA
* Egypt has as of Sept. 1 canceled the monthly customs exchange rate, which will now be set daily, Reuters reported, citing the country's finance ministry. The move may raise inflation in the coming months if the Egyptian pound declines significantly against the U.S. dollar, analysts told the news agency.
* Egypt's public enterprise minister, Hisham Tawfik, said the second phase of the state privatization program has been postponed from the initial date of September to January 2020 as some processes took longer than anticipated, Mubasher wrote. Ten state-run companies, including e-Finance and Banque du Caire SAE, will be listed on the Egyptian Exchange for the first time under the program.
* Nasser Social Bank, SAE Managing Director and Vice Chairman Sherif Farouk said the Egyptian state-owned specialized lender has signed a contract for EFG-Hermes Holding SAE and CI Capital Asset Management to manage its securities portfolio, Amwal Al Ghad reported.
* Attijariwafa bank SA signed a partnership agreement with Japan's Mizuho Financial Group Inc., committing the two banks to cooperating in their corporate banking, international trade operations, project financing and capital markets activities, according to Libération.
Henni Abdelghani, Pádraig Belton and Sophie Davies contributed to this report.
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.
