Divinely and Wifely Guided |
Sadly, neither God nor my wife insisted that I take my current position at Suq al Mal. It seems that not all are called.
On a positive note, I rather like what I do here.
The Financial Sector in the GCC
Divinely and Wifely Guided |
It's Not Cricket! |
Stressed assets -- made up of bad loans, restructured debt and advances to companies that can’t meet servicing requirements -- have risen to about 16.6 percent of total loans in India, the highest level among major economies, data compiled by the nation’s Finance Ministry show.
Ratings companies including Fitch Ratings Ltd have come out in favor of setting up a state-backed “bad bank” to tackle India’s ballooning stressed assets problem, a move resisted by Raghuram Rajan, the former governor of the Reserve Bank of India.
The RBI completed its audit of the nation’s 50 lenders last year, forcing them to lay bare previously hidden non-performing loans.
Banks had been reluctant to offer discounts to offload bad loans even where they are clearly worth much less than their book value because such sales “invite the attention of anti-corruption agencies making bank officials reluctant to sign off on them,” Fitch analysts including Guha wrote in a Feb. 23 note.
Bankers selling bad loans to a national bad bank won’t be questioned, as this institution will be empowered by the government to take tough decisions,” said Rajesh Mokashi, managing director at CARE Ratings Ltd. in an interview. A bad bank will also bring to an end to fear of “witch-hunting” of lenders, if any, by anti-graft agencies, he said.
With more than $180 billion in stressed assets, the government and regulators have to evaluate all avenues including a bad bank to drive better recovery rates,” said Nikhil Shah, managing director at Alvarez and Marsal, a firm that specializes in turnarounds.
Case in "Point" |
“I am pleased that Lieutenant General Michael Flynn will be by my side as we work to defeat radical Islamic terrorism, navigate geopolitical challenges and keep Americans safe at home and abroad,” said President-elect Trump. “General Flynn is one of the country’s foremost experts on military and intelligence matters and he will be an invaluable asset to me and my administration.”
Michael Flynn, the national security adviser to President Trump, resigned late Monday over revelations about his potentially illegal contacts with the Russian ambassador to the United States, and his misleading statements about the matter to senior Trump administration officials.
President Donald Trump was not aware that his former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, was being paid to lobby for Turkish interests in the months leading up the US election, White House press secretary Sean Spicer said Thursday.
But Rep. Elijah Cummings, Ranking Member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, sent Pence a letter on November 18 requesting more information about the potential conflicts of interest posed by Flynn's lobbying work.
Cummings sent the letter four days after both the Daily Caller and Politico reported that Flynn's consulting firm, Flynn Intel Group, Inc., had been hired to lobby for Turkish interests.
But Flynn was compensated by the Flynn Intel Group, where he serves as a principal and which has registered as a lobbying firm for a Dutch company owned by a Turkish businessman with close ties to Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The relationship is more than professional, apparently. Flynn has called for the extradition to Turkey of the cleric Fethullah Gülen, whom he called a “shady Islamic mullah” who lives in exile in the Poconos and on whom Erdogan has blamed a failed July coup attempt (among a host of other sins).
Have You Seen This Congressman? |
It Depends ... |
Litigation Settlement - USD
Millions
|
||
Development
Property
|
$118
|
|
Investment
Property
|
$192
|
|
Unlisted
Equity Securities
|
$9
|
|
Investment
in Associates
|
$28
|
|
Other
|
$117
|
|
Total
|
$464
|
Not Proof of a Successful Strategy, Hard Work, or Integrity |
Commenting on the results, Dr. Ahmed Al Mutawa, Chairman of GFH, said, “We are extremely pleased to have delivered great performance for 2016. These results are a testament to the success of the strategy that GFH has adopted since 2014, and the commitment and integrity of the Board and management team. Our results were supported by the significant recoveries that saw $460 million of assets restored back to the Group, a major benefit for shareholders and one that will allow us to deliver stronger results for the years to come.Building on the successful achievement of our strategy for 2014-2016, GFH’s Board of Directors has also approved and recommended a new strategy for 2017-2019, which focuses on accelerating growth by way of acquiring financial institutions, infrastructure investments and strategic assets. The new strategy will be presented for shareholder approval at the next General Assembly Meeting and are subject to final regulatory approvals.
Mr. Hisham Alrayes, CEO of GFH, added, “2016 was a year of significant progress across the Group and we are proud of the transformation that has been accomplished as demonstrated by our results. During the year, we have delivered on our promise to shareholders and the market with regard to recoveries, which will effectively return to the Group all past accumulated and written-off losses of the last eight years.We have also set the group foundations for the future by further strengthening our Investment Banking, Real Estate and Commercial Banking activities, and have taken sufficient provisions to make the Group’s balance sheet more efficient for future value extraction.
Our Corporations Isn't Learning |
The Commission adopted the pay ratio disclosure rule in August 2015 to implement Section 953(b) of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. The rule requires a public company to disclose the ratio of the median of the annual total compensation of all employees to the annual total compensation of the chief executive officer.Based on comments received during the rulemaking process, the Commission delayed compliance for companies until their first fiscal year beginning on or after January 1, 2017. Issuers are now actively engaged in the implementation and testing of systems and controls designed to collect and process the information necessary for compliance. However, it is my understanding that some issuers have begun to encounter unanticipated compliance difficulties that may hinder them in meeting the reporting deadline.I encourage commenters and the staff to expedite their review in light of these unique circumstances.