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Khaleej Times
27-05-2025
- Business
- Khaleej Times
UAE: Minimum bank balance requirement of Dh5,000 suspended
The Central Bank of the UAE on Tuesday postponed its decision for a minimum balance requirement of Dh5,000 for retail customers of local banks. The regulator sent out a notice to all licensed financial institutions (LFIs) in the country, notifying them about postponing an increase in minimum balance amount from Dh3,000 to Dh5,000, industry sources told Khaleej Times. Last week, the Central Bank sent out a notice to local financial institutions about increasing the minimum balance from Dh3,000 to Dh5,000 from June 1, 2025. If customers, under the previously announced policy, failed to maintain the minimum balance of Dh5,000, they would be subject to a Dh25 fee per month, unless they have a credit card or personal financing with the lender. Central Bank asked local banks to suspend the increase in the minimum balance and not implement it until further notice as it aims to study the impact of this decision on the labour market. This new decision to postpone a minimum balance of Dh5,000 will greatly benefit lower middle-income employees who sometimes find it difficult to maintain the minimum balance amount. The UAE Central Bank's latest showed that banks' deposits increased by 1.2 per cent from Dh2.840 trillion at the end of January 2025 to Dh2.874 trillion at the end of February 2025. The increase in bank deposits was due to the growth in resident deposits by 0.8 per cent, settling at Dh2.625 trillion and in non-resident deposits by 5.1 per cent, reaching Dh249.1 billion. Within the resident deposits; government-related entities deposits increased by 3.8 per cent, private sector deposits increased by 1.4 per cent and non-banking financial institutions deposits increased by 5.6 per cent.
Times of Oman
25-05-2025
- Business
- Times of Oman
Monday column: Why is Oman still a debt society?
Many people in Oman are still falling into a debt trap taking banks loans far more than they can afford just to keep up with their lavish lifestyles. According to the official statistics, local banks extended a total credit of OMR14.7 billion to private consumers by the end of March this year, which is 7 percent higher than the same period last year. There are no statistics available how private consumers spend the borrowed money. But looking at the trend, car purchasing certainly is on top of the list followed by holidays and domestic buying like furniture. No wonder local financial institutions never record a loss. Their profits are always on the rise year on year, thanks to the high impact of consumerism in the country. But there are some questions when you take a look at the population of Oman. Out of roughly 5 million people, about a million of them are manual workers employed in sectors like constructions, factories and domestic labour. School children and students in higher education are roughly about one and half million while the total number of pensioners are another 600,000. There are just roughly just two million people left who can afford a bank loan. That means too much money is burdening a quarter of the population, out of their own faults. You may argue that, it is good for consumerism but what about inflation? But when you look at the inflationary rates in the country, you see a small rise month by month. We are missing something here. Unless a lot of money borrowed from the local banks is being repatriated abroad. If so, then where is it going? Certainly, the inflationary rate is not giving us a clue. It is not the monetary system or local financial regulations are at fault. In any healthy, financial environment, banking systems need to thrive and grow. And local banks get the right support since the sector employs thousands of people in different parts of the country. Perhaps there should be some kinds of mechanism to educate consumers in the habit of spending. For example, if they don't have the cash to splash out, then they should be cautious taking out unsustainable bank loans. Without any doubt, it is not sustainable for them to rely heavily on loan taking, both for the country or personally. But who to blame? Obviously, lavish lifestyle encourages excessive borrowing. Also, easy credits from the banks. The latter, is also a problem where local financial institutions make it easier to borrow money that encourages the trend. Maybe there should be a limit where consumers are limited only 15 times their salaries and payable over 24 months as a condition for taking a loan. I am sure that would help to contain the problem of overspending the money that does not really belong to them. No wonder many people scratch their heads when the burden is too much. Unfortunately, banks do not write-off the loans once you have borrowed from them. I have not seen the statistics from the courts but I am sure there are thousands of cases pending of people who cannot repay their liabilities.
Arabian Business
23-05-2025
- Business
- Arabian Business
Financial Services
The Dubai bank will be treated on par with local banks after establishing a WOS; It will be allowed to list on Indian stock markets, and acquire other companies
Zawya
14-05-2025
- Business
- Zawya
Sipchem's net profits cross $52mln in Q1-25
Riyadh: Sahara International Petrochemical Company (Sipchem) posted 7.60% year-on-year (YoY) higher net profits at SAR 195.30 million in the first quarter (Q1)of 2025, versus SAR 181.50 million. The Saudi company's revenues climbed by 2.34% YoY to SAR 1.96 billion in Q1-25 from SAR 1.92 billion, the interim financial results showed. Earnings per share (EPS) went up to SAR 0.27 as of 31 March 2025 from SAR 0.25 in Q1-24. On a quarterly basis, the net profits generated in Q1-25 surged by 876.50% from SAR 20 million in Q4-24, while the revenues hiked by 13.27% from SAR 1.73 billion. In February 2025, Sipchem's Acrylic Complex investee penned SAR 1.30 billion refinancing agreements with a consortium of local banks.
