Bank Muscat, the flagship financial services provider in the Sultanate, and the World Bank's International Finance Corporation ( IFC ) have joined hands to organise a two-day SME workshop, open for all. The exclusive Al Wathbah workshop, beginning on Sunday, at the bank's head office, is designed to inspire and engage existing and prospective entrepreneurs and propel their projects with easy business techniques. Expert trainers from IFC will lead the sessions and share insights on topics critical to laying a strong foundation as an entrepreneur. The workshop will focus on using and analysing financial statements and improving selling skills. Topics to be covered include the role of accounting in the decision making process, balance sheet, income statement, cash flow statement etc. A session on improving selling skills will focus on getting customer attention and creating a desire to buy and successfully closing a deal. Panel discussions have also been lined up spotlighting successful Bank Muscat SME clients. The discussions will highlight the importance of financial statements in managing business and access to finance. More»

Standard Chartered, a British bank, is expected to announce on Monday a $330 million settlement with U.S. law-enforcement agencies, a deal that would conclude an investigation that examined whether the bank violated sanctions with Iran, people familiar with the situation said. The settlement, which is expected to include the U.S. Justice Department and the Manhattan district attorney, f ollows a $340 million settlement that the bank reached in August with the New York Department of Financial Services. That settlement came after the New York regulator analyzed whether Standard Chartered had improperly concealed transactions tied to Iran. As a result of the settlement, the bank agreed to install a monitor to evaluate anti-money laundering systems. The bank said on Thursday it expects to pay $330 million in the latest settlement, but did not offer specific timing, saying only that an announcement would come "very shortly." A Standard Chartered spokeswoman declined comment on Friday. More»

Egypt’s foreign cash reserves dropped US$ 448 million to reach US$ 15.035 billion at the end of last November. A number of bankers warned that a hunger revolution is looming in Egypt, if the presidency fail to overcome such crisis. They warned that the current foreign reserves are not enough to import commodities for more than three months. The banking expert Bassant Fahmy affirmed that the current unrests push Egypt into a “real catastrophe”. She condemned the clashes happening in Mohamed Mahmoud Street and outside the Presidential Palace between the supporters and opponents of The Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi. The foreign reserves are not used only in importing commodities such as petroleum products and wheat, but they are also used to repay foreign loans and import raw materials for factories. Therefore, the factories may be forced to cut jobs, if they do not enough raw materials. She explained that the current unrests raise fears of the rich more than the poor as the former may be compelled to sell their investments in Egypt. She called on Morsi to withdraw his latest decisions to spare the country a hunger revolution. More»

Abdel Raouf Kotb, chairman of the Insurance Federation of Egypt (IFE), suggested changing the insurance cost percentage incurred by Egyptian banks for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to reach between 25-30% as in European countries instead of 10%. On the sidelines of the 1st Annual Global Finance & Investment Conference, Kotb added that insurance companies and banks differ on the insurance cost percentage as insurance companies incur 90% and banks incur 10% only. “These are unfair percentages which increase the risks of insurance companies,” he noted. He revealed that the Takaful (Islamic insurance) scheme has started in Egypt in 2003 and there are eight Takaful companies in Egypt. The Takaful, which attracts high demand, represents an added value to banking transactions in Egypt, he added. More»

Egypt’s foreign cash reserves dropped US$ 448 million to reach US$ 15.035billion at the end of last November, compared to US$ 15.483 billion at the end of last October. Banking experts said such retreat in international reserves was a result of the political turmoil which reduced tourism income, direct investments and exports. More»