DUBAI: Banks in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) have raised $5.3 billion as oil prices down this year, up from $4.4 billion a year earlier, while overall sales were little changed at about $8.1 billion.
Citigroup sees debt sales by Gulf financial institutions increasing as the slump in crude prices prompts banks to make up for falling government deposits.
“We expect debt capital market and syndicated loan activity to be better this year given lower oil prices,” Atiq Ur Rehman, the New York-based bank’s chief executive officer for the Middle East and North Africa, said in an interview in Dubai.
“Increased activity is coming from financial institutions as they shore up liquidity and capacity for future needs,” he further added.
Banks in the oil-rich region are raising cash through bonds and loans as liquidity falls and governments park less cash. Governments, related entities and national oil companies are among the largest depositors in the region’s lenders, providing between 10 per cent and 35 per cent of non-equity bank funding
Citigroup is third-largest bond underwriter in the Gulf region this year, trailing HSBC Holdings and National Bank of Abu Dhabi (NBAD), though it’s up from eighth last year. It’s also the ninth-largest arranger of syndicated loans, up from 22nd in 2014.
Of the six bond deals Citigroup has worked on, five of them have been for banks including Emirates NBD and National Bank of Abu Dhabi
Citigroup, based in New York, is exiting its consumer-banking business in 11 countries to focus on markets where it has the greatest scale and growth potential.
The lender received bids from banks including Emirates NBD and Mashreqbank for its consumer-banking business in Egypt, people with knowledge of the matter said in January.
The bank has said it expects to complete most of those sales this year. Ur Rehman also expects initial public offerings to return this year in the Middle East “on the back of lower oil prices as an alternative form of finance,” he said.
lamic banking assets reach Rs14.47 trillion, sector share rises to 23%
KARACHI: Pakistan’s Islamic banking sector expanded during 2025, increasing its share in the country’s financial system with assets reaching nearly...
