DUBAI: Kuwaiti lenders Boubyan Bank and Gulf Bank are weighing a merger to create a single Islamic bank with $53 billion in assets as part of a plan to fuel growth and expansion.
The boards of Boubyan Bank and Gulf Bank have approved the proposal, and the Central Bank of Kuwait was notified of their plans, the banks said in separate regulatory filings on Wednesday.
Boubyan Bank and Gulf Bank said they plan to sign a memorandum of understanding and a non-disclosure agreement to proceed with due diligence, valuation discovery, and studying the feasibility of the proposal.
Any transaction will be subject to approval from regulators including the central bank, the filings said. 

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s Cabinet approved the Kingdom’s product safety and standards systems during its session chaired by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Jeddah.

The body reviewed several periodic performance reports on the programs of the Saudi Vision 2030, many of whose achievements have already been realized on the ground, according to the Saudi Press Agency,

Progress in transforming the housing and health sectors was discussed, with key achievements including increasing homeownership rates by providing thousands of housing units and enhancing health care accessibility, quality, and life expectancy through dedicated public health and community initiatives.

The Kingdom aims to improve product safety by restricting the entry of non-conforming products through the Saudi Products Safety program, known as Saleem. 

The program issues the Annual Conformity Index, providing regulatory authorities and technical regulations teams with information and reports to prioritize their efforts and streamline commercial procedures.

In a statement to SPA following the session held in July 30, Minister of Media Salman Al-Dossary said the Cabinet discussed the Kingdom’s high rankings in labor market indicators issued by the World Economic Forum, highlighting the record-breaking increase in the number of Saudis employed in the private sector, with its workforce growing from 1.7 million in 2019 to over 2.3 million in 2024.

The minister added that the Council of Ministers also underscored the country’s unemployment rate which decreased to 6.7 percent in the first quarter of 2024.

The Cabinet approved a cooperation memorandum of understanding between the Saudi Ministry of Tourism and its Tunisian counterpart.

It also approved a MoU between the Saudi Ministry of Investment and the Costa Rican Ministry of Foreign Trade for cooperation in promoting direct investment.

An agreement on economics and planning between the Saudi Ministry of Economy and Planning and the Bahraini Ministry of Finance and National Economy was also endorsed.

The Cabinet approved a cooperation memorandum of understanding between Saudi Arabia’s Small and Medium Enterprises General Authority, also known as Monsha’at, and the Jordan Enterprise Development Corporation to support and develop SMEs and entrepreneurship.

Two deals on air transport services between the Saudi government and the Ugandan and Guatemalan sides were also given the green light.