Tuesday 23 December 2008

Islamic Banking in Crisis

Investment bankers from London were flying into once-booming Dubai last night as the bailout of the Gulf state’s banking sector began.

The bank and the finance ministry of the United Arab Emirates have established a AED120 billion emergency funding facility .

Global Investment House KSCC, Kuwait’s biggest investment bank, declined to the lowest in more than four years after appointing HSBC Holdings to renegotiate loans owed to foreign lenders.

Citigroup Inc., the global bank that got a $45 billion government bailout, “recently” arranged more than $8 billion of financing for government-owned companies in Dubai.

Dubai Holding Commercial Operations Group LLC, a company owned by Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, said it repaid 2.4 billion dirhams ($650million) of maturing bonds and loans from its own cash flows.