A payments provider that gets 5 per cent as much revenue as Deutsche Bank is now worth more than the German lender deemed by regulators to be one of the world’s most important banks.

Wirecard, based in a the Munich suburb of Ascheim, overtook Germany’s biggest bank by market value on Monday, riding a wave of investor enthusiasm for payments companies. The stock, which has climbed by more than 84 per cent this year, is set to join the"...

Hong Kong intervened to defend its peg to the dollar for the first time in three months after the local currency fell to the weak end of its trading band.

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority bought HK$2.159 billion (Dh1bn) of local dollars during New York trading hours on Tuesday, according to the de facto central bank’s page on Bloomberg. The last intervention was on May 18. The city’s currency traded at HK$7.8499 as of 12:41pm local time,"...

Syrian authorities, seeking to attract foreign currency deposits, outlined terms on Tuesday for new certificates of deposit the government this month allowed the central bank to issue.

Banks in Syria can now place surplus foreign currency in euros and dollars into certificates of deposit in the central bank, the central bank’s Credit and Monetary Council said.

The"...

The World Bank has appointed Commonwealth Bank of Australia to issue the first global blockchain bond intended to simplify raising capital and trading securities.

CBA was selected sole arranger for the first bond to be created, allocated, transferred and managed using blockchain technology, the World Bank said in a statement on Friday. Indicative investor interest in the blockchain operated new debt instrument, or bond-i for short after Australia's"...

Governor of the Central Bank of Syria (CBS) Dureid Dergham said that issuing foreign currency certificates of deposit (CDs) is an important step to attract Syrians’ funds, providing competitive returns and allowing for reinvesting them in revitalizing national economy.

In a statement to SANA, Dergham said that the decision to issuing CDs which was approved by the Cabinet recently allows for accepting deposits in foreign currencies at public"...

As many as 21 public sector banks and three major private sector lenders collected a whopping Rs 5,000 crore (Rs 50 billion) from customers for non-maintenance of minimum balance in their accounts in 2017-18, according to banking data.

India's largest lender State Bank of India, which suffered a staggering net loss of Rs 6,547 crore during 2017-18, led the pack in penalising its customers for not maintaining minimum account balance. The government-owned"...

Bahrain Association of Banks (BAB) will hold its first open dialogue with its members, non-members and partners of the association on October 8.

This meeting will particularly address mechanisms to enhance the BAB's role as an effective representative for the banking institutions with the Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB) in the context of their common objective of strengthening"...

Iran will ease foreign exchange rules, state TV reported on Sunday, in a bid to halt a collapse of the rial currency that has lost half its value since April due to fears about US sanctions likely to be imposed this week.

President Donald Trump’s decision to pull out of an agreement to lift sanctions in return for Iran limiting its nuclear programme caused a run on the rial as companies and savers bought hard currency to protect themselves"...

The Cabinet approved on Sunday the creation of a Coordination Body for the Return of Displaced Persons Abroad.

This came during the Cabinet’s weekly session chaired by Prime Minister Imad Khamis.

The Body aims at the coordinating the return of the displaced abroad to their cities and villages which they left due to terrorism through intensifying communication with"...

Fidelity International, an asset manager, will set up an office at the Dubai International Financial Centre, the emirate’s financial free zone, to service its business in the Middle East and South Africa.

The company was awarded a licence from regulator, the Dubai Financial Services Authority, on July 17, according to the DIFC’s registrar of businesses, and will commence operations shortly.

“Fidelity"...