The Morning Roundup distills the top financial stories from the region and around the globe into bite-sized chunks for your daily consumption.
International story of the day:
US bank stress test results are released amid less-terrible-than-before economic data
It has been an interesting weekend across the Atlantic. As expected, the US government on Thursday
released stress-test results
for the country's major banks, and it turns out that most won't need to raise new capital. Those that do, including Citi,
Wells Fargo
and Bank of America, are to
raise a combined $75bn
by November, a lower figure than analysts expected. Wells Fargo and Morgan Stanley have
already raised fresh capital
, though
some analysts say
Morgan
needs way more than the $1.8bn it was told to raise. Meanwhile, GMAC, the financing arm of General Motors, appears to be in
bad shape
. It may need a
$11.5bn bailout
from the government. And America's regional banks are
mired in troubles
of their own, which
Breakingviews says
may cause a wave of mergers. Also over the weekend, American jobs figures came in, showing that
people are still losing jobs
, but at a slower pace than before.
Regional story of the day:
Taking stock
First-quarter results continue to pour in from companies in the region, and overall, things are looking a little more positive and less uncertain than was the case a few months back. Markets have been on an upward swing lately, punctuated by better-than-expected results from a bevy of local companies late last week and into the weekend. Air Arabia's first-quarter profits
went up 32 per cent
; Mashreqbank also
came out in the black
. Shuaa Capital, the Dubai-based investment bank,
reported a loss
late on Thursday, but the results came out a bit better than in previous quarters. Kuwait's central bank governor said over the weekend that his country's financial system was
returning to stability
. Today's
IMF briefing at the DIFC
may shed more light on just where we stand on the path to recovery as GCC officials push towards a delayed monetary union.
The rest:
Personal finance gurus: all wrong, all the time? [
The Big Money
]
The US bailout won't work, a large hedge fund firm says [
Dealbook
]
Ratings agencies must reform, might even be controlled by investors [
The Deal
]
An
excellent
interactive chart on US banks' capital needs [
WSJ
]
Can it really be this bad? A cemetery in the US files for foreclosure [
Freakonomics
]
FA Cup quarter-final draw
The matches will be played across the weekend of 21 and 22 March
Sheffield United v Arsenal
Newcastle v Manchester City
Norwich v Derby/Manchester United
Leicester City v Chelsea
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Defence review at a glance
• Increase defence spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2027 but given “turbulent times it may be necessary to go faster”
• Prioritise a shift towards working with AI and autonomous systems
• Invest in the resilience of military space systems.
• Number of active reserves should be increased by 20%
• More F-35 fighter jets required in the next decade
• New “hybrid Navy” with AUKUS submarines and autonomous vessels
Profile of MoneyFellows
Founder: Ahmed Wadi
Launched: 2016
Employees: 76
Financing stage: Series A ($4 million)
Investors: Partech, Sawari Ventures, 500 Startups, Dubai Angel Investors, Phoenician Fund
About Krews
Founder: Ahmed Al Qubaisi
Based: Abu Dhabi
Founded: January 2019
Number of employees: 10
Sector: Technology/Social media
Funding to date: Estimated $300,000 from Hub71 in-kind support
Why it pays to compare
A comparison of sending Dh20,000 from the UAE using two different routes at the same time - the first direct from a UAE bank to a bank in Germany, and the second from the same UAE bank via an online platform to Germany - found key differences in cost and speed. The transfers were both initiated on January 30.
Route 1: bank transfer
The UAE bank charged Dh152.25 for the Dh20,000 transfer. On top of that, their exchange rate margin added a difference of around Dh415, compared with the mid-market rate.
Total cost: Dh567.25 - around 2.9 per cent of the total amount
Total received: €4,670.30
Route 2: online platform
The UAE bank’s charge for sending Dh20,000 to a UK dirham-denominated account was Dh2.10. The exchange rate margin cost was Dh60, plus a Dh12 fee.
Total cost: Dh74.10, around 0.4 per cent of the transaction
Total received: €4,756
The UAE bank transfer was far quicker – around two to three working days, while the online platform took around four to five days, but was considerably cheaper. In the online platform transfer, the funds were also exposed to currency risk during the period it took for them to arrive.
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets