Mr. Abuzaakouk, first, congratulations on the award. Before we talk about the recent major achievements of the Bank: What can you tell our readers about BAWAG Group? Thank you. BAWAG has a long and rich history of over 140 years dating back to 1883 with its foundation firmly rooted in Austria. Today, we are headquartered in Vienna, Austria and serve 2.1 million retail, small business, corporate, real estate and public sector customers across Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Netherlands, Western Europe and the United States. Our goal is to deliver simple, transparent, and affordable financial pro ..read more

Global Finance’s Safest Bank rankings, published annually in November, assess the fiscal health and stability of the largest 1,000 banks in the world. Where do Kuwait’s banks rank? Overall, sound, with eight banks holding 13 places across our various Safest Bank lists. Kuwait is one of the richest countries in the world. The country’s banks are under the supervision of the Kuwait Central Bank and provide both Islamic and conventional banking services to businesses and consumers. Since 1968, foreign banks have operated in Kuwait. The government is a constitutional, hereditary emirate with an ec ..read more

Global Finance’s Safest Bank rankings, published annually in November, assess the fiscal health and stability of the largest 1,000 banks in the world. Bank ratings depend heavily on the country’s sovereign rating and Egyptian banks are especially sensitive to the sovereign rating since many of their banks are state owned. After our Safest Bank rankings was published, ratings agencies downgraded Egypt’s sovereign ratings in November 2023 with Moody’s assigning a Caa1 rating, S&P assigning a B– rating and Fitch assigning a B– rating. S&P subsequently upgraded the country’s credit outlook ..read more

The Consumer Price Index only tells part of the story. Two years ago, inflation reached a 40-year high in the United States. Globally, it grew in 179 out of 194 nations compared to 2020. Since then inflation’s global growth slowed, prompting hopes that prices paid by consumers would soon return to normal. Unfortunately, bringing inflation down does not mean that consumer prices will revert to what they once were—they will just stop increasing so quickly and dramatically. It is also important to point out the distinction between overall inflation and core inflation which is the key metric of th ..read more

Joseph Giarraputo, Founder & Editorial Director of Global Finance talks with Anith Daniel, Group Head of Transaction Banking Services at Emirates NBD on the UAE’s strategic policies, the future of tech in transaction banking and the ambitious targets set across multiple industries.   The UAE has established itself as a global hub for innovation and technology, building an open, efficient, and globally integrated business platform. Embracing new technologies, Emirates NBD is pioneering transformative solutions in transaction banking by forging strategic partnerships with fintechs and ..read more

What does it mean to be unemployed? It is a question that appears easy to answer, at least superficially. Not being able to afford rent, to get an education or visit a doctor, to provide for yourself and your family—unemployment, we know, has many negative ramifications. However, translating each person’s situation into data and data into policies that can improve the situation of millions of unemployed individuals is remarkably arduous. While experts agree that the jobless rate represents the percentage share of the labor force out of work and that high unemployment can threaten growth and so ..read more

Joseph Giarraputo, Founder & Editorial Director of Global Finance talks with Anith Daniel, Group Head of Transaction Banking Services at Emirates NBD on the UAE’s strategic policies, the future of tech in transaction banking and the ambitious targets set across multiple industries.   The UAE has established itself as a global hub for innovation and technology, building an open, efficient, and globally integrated business platform. Emirates NBD recently celebrated its 60th anniversary, the bank continues to be at the forefront of innovation and helping clients navigate the next genera ..read more

The race to stake a claim in Asia Pacific’s e-commerce boom is on. Based on growth forecasts, this is no surprise. The region’s e-commerce market size is estimated to hit US$4.2 trillion in 2024, and then to reach US$6.76 trillion by 2029, reflecting a compounded annual growth rate of 10% during that time.1 For companies looking to benefit from this surge in consumer demand, creating a commercially viable e-commerce strategy is easier said than done. Partnerships play an increasingly important role as a route to success. “Partnerships can elevate e-commerce businesses across sales, marke ..read more

Washington holds the future of both TikTok and ByteDance in its hands. Who wouldn’t want to own a piece of the most valuable start-up in the world? Valued, by some reckonings, at $220 billion last year, ByteDance arguably can claim that title. It boasts a majority ownership that includes financial powerhouses KKR, Sequoia Capital, Susquehanna International, General Atlantic, Tiger Global Management, and SoftBank. Aside from its crown jewel, TikTok, it numbers such popular apps as editing tool CapCut, workplace collaboration tool Lark, and news platform Toutiao among its creations. And there al ..read more

Geopolitics and the Russia-Ukraine war are highlighting the potential of Georgia and Armenia’s expanding economies. Tbilisi, Georgia, will host the Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) annual meeting the first week of May. Soon thereafter, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development’s (EBRD) confab takes place in Yerevan, Armenia. The near-convergence of two heavyweight multilaterals comes as the two countries exhibit strong economic growth accompanied by growing excitement about the middle corridor, an Asian-European supply chain route connecting the Caspian Sea through Azerbaijan with the ..read more