Me being the curious soul that I am have decided to shun conventional banking. To make way for what is "sharia compliant"... There isnt much that is really sharia compliant is my conclusion. Alot of it is semantics, and profit exercises. The asset backed, profit/loss/ risk sharing is there in theory, its there on paper: but an islamic bank is meant to be ISLAMIC: No sukuks for sinful ventures. No SPVs to hedge (which is pretty much unislamic)
Deutsche bank: Im looking at you
But the sad part is that its the local banks here that are following: Look at balance sheets, and look for interest income (transfer of interest)... Just a quick observation, which CAN be validated. but should it be?
Food for thought
Sunday, July 06, 2008
Friday, June 20, 2008
The end of an era?
The end of an era? Or the start of a new one?
The growth of Dubai, and the UAE in general needs no elaborating on: In the few years we have been pushing for business, we have rapidly grown into a booming economy.
Ive written before on excessive growth, and unsustainable growth, but never on emigration. Ive always thought about the danger of too many immigrants to the UAE, and the dilution of the culture and values as a consequence.
What if the locals started leaving?
What if the locals crying on the radio about ends not meeting decided to pack up and leave? What If it wasnt feasible to live in my beautiful UAE anymore?
Today was the first time I had the conversation opened on the lunch table, and it was a haunting thought. My parents noted it happened before: back when the UAE didnt have proper infrastructure to support its citizens, a great many locals (with the means) studied abroad, and STAYED abroad... The problem now is not with a lack of infrastructure, its deeper than that...
Time will tell. One things for sure though, Im going to give it my best to fix this problem...
The growth of Dubai, and the UAE in general needs no elaborating on: In the few years we have been pushing for business, we have rapidly grown into a booming economy.
Ive written before on excessive growth, and unsustainable growth, but never on emigration. Ive always thought about the danger of too many immigrants to the UAE, and the dilution of the culture and values as a consequence.
What if the locals started leaving?
What if the locals crying on the radio about ends not meeting decided to pack up and leave? What If it wasnt feasible to live in my beautiful UAE anymore?
Today was the first time I had the conversation opened on the lunch table, and it was a haunting thought. My parents noted it happened before: back when the UAE didnt have proper infrastructure to support its citizens, a great many locals (with the means) studied abroad, and STAYED abroad... The problem now is not with a lack of infrastructure, its deeper than that...
Time will tell. One things for sure though, Im going to give it my best to fix this problem...
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Peg, Peg, Peg
Score for the Anti-dollar bunch:
Suwaidi , Wheres your name? I dont see it in this article? Why isnt the central bank governor be it Sultan AlSuwaidi (or someone else?) in probably the most influential national article of the month?
Given, this is the umpteenth (1, 2 , 3) time its mentioned this year. I want to call him out: YES foreign investment is good. YES, tourism / oil sectors would favor lower dollars, BUT what about the booming trade sector? what about the local businesses? What about the food basket? How is lower-income sector going to eat with prices of cooking oil going up by 13 percent (if I remember correctly) ?
I want to see a board voting on this, with published opinions and positions, because the random mumblings of one man to influence a nations ENTIRE currency peg is odd.
On a lighter note: I find it smart that most of the mumblings are in the arabic newspapers not the english ones, that way the international community doesnt freak out at what he has to say? (dont know if thats just a fluke or not :-p)
Suwaidi , Wheres your name? I dont see it in this article? Why isnt the central bank governor be it Sultan AlSuwaidi (or someone else?) in probably the most influential national article of the month?
Given, this is the umpteenth (1, 2 , 3) time its mentioned this year. I want to call him out: YES foreign investment is good. YES, tourism / oil sectors would favor lower dollars, BUT what about the booming trade sector? what about the local businesses? What about the food basket? How is lower-income sector going to eat with prices of cooking oil going up by 13 percent (if I remember correctly) ?
I want to see a board voting on this, with published opinions and positions, because the random mumblings of one man to influence a nations ENTIRE currency peg is odd.
On a lighter note: I find it smart that most of the mumblings are in the arabic newspapers not the english ones, that way the international community doesnt freak out at what he has to say? (dont know if thats just a fluke or not :-p)
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