First Bank of Nigeria Plc (FirstBank), established in 1894, is a premier bank in West Africa and the leading financial services solutions provider in Nigeria. The bank was founded by Sir Alfred Jones, a shipping magnate from Liverpool, UK. With its head office originally in Liverpool, the bank commenced business on a modest scale in Lagos under the name Bank of British West Africa. In 1912 the bank acquired its first competitor, the Bank of Nigeria, which had been established in 1899 (as the Anglo-African Bank) by the Royal Niger Company. In 1957 the bank changed its name from Bank of British West Africa to Bank of West Africa. In 1966, following its merger with Standard Bank, UK, the bank adopted the name Standard Bank of West Africa Limited and, in 1969, it was incorporated locally as the Standard Bank of Nigeria Limited in line with the Companies Decree of 1968. Changes in the name of the bank also occurred in 1979 and 1991 to First Bank of Nigeria Limited and First Bank of Nigeria Plc, respectively. FirstBank has international presence through its subsidiary, FBN Bank (UK) Limited in London with a branch in Paris, and its representative offices in Johannesburg and Beijing. With 1.3 million shareholders globally, FirstBank is the second most capitalised stock on the Nigerian Stock Exchange. The bank also has an unlisted Global Depository Receipt programme. Leveraging experience that spans over a century of dependable service, FirstBank has continued to build relationships and alliances with key […]

The bank has a very strong balance with a 20.5 percent tier one capital ratio, and its loan loss reserves cover 5.4 times the non performing loans. The strength is reflected in the BBB rating that Standard & Poor’s has given Inbursa – the highest rating in Mexico. Low operating costs is a key principle for Inbursa with an efficiency ratio of 40 percent – comparing positively to a market average of 74 percent – which translates into higher profitability, flexibility and more competitive products to its more than eight million clients. Inbursa’s management structure is very lean in order to be as close as possible to its clients, allowing the institution to have a very fast decision process. The main benefits for its clients are the quality of service and the quick response to their needs. Business servicesCommercial lending has been a core business for Inbursa, providing financing solutions to large corporations as well as to small and medium enterprises. The loan portfolio has grown consistently during the last 16 years at a yearly compound average growth rate of 33 percent, reaching the equivalent of $15bn in 2010. This gives Inbursa a 14 percent market share in Mexico. The majority of its portfolio is denominated in Mexican pesos, and 26 percent is denominated in US dollars; 18 percent of the total portfolio has been lent outside of Mexico. Inbursa’s loan portfolio is highly diversified with exposure in some of the most dynamic sectors of the Mexican economy, including infrastructure […]

Forex gained the confidence of active people investigating avenues of generating additional income long ago. Distance methods of earning are the most popular ones and attract the attention of the majority. Their unquestionable advantage is that they do not require any initial expenditure and time for transfers – trading on forex meets these requirements. At present hundreds of brokers offer their services on the foreign exchange markets, including both small- and large-scale international brokerage companies offering a whole range of services. One such company offering a comprehensive service is InstaForex, a broker actively acquiring cutting-edge technologies. A relatively new company, it has been operating on the market since 2007 and is now entering the constellation of leading brokers of the foreign exchange market. As of spring 2011, the company’s number of the clients ran to more than 350,000 people from 60 countries, with nearly 100 offices for the company all over the world. World Finance magazine has recognised InstaForex with the award for Best Forex Broker in Asia twice – impressive results for a four year old company. Investment ideologyWhat are the prerequisites to such success? Definitely, the high quality of services rendered, considerable initial investments and a highly qualified team are all aspects of this successful business. Yet, all these factors are secondary; the primary one is the ideas. And for InstaForex, this is the foundation to a successful business. The idea at the heart of InstaForex is to offer the most convenient, clear and safe trading in the […]

In Islamic banking, traditionally banks do not invest in interest bearing instruments like treasuries or bonds, which means all deposits collected are transferred to the real economy as “murabaha” loans. Besides supporting real businesses and production, it protects the borrower from financial shocks in crisis situations. Furthermore, in the Islamic system, banks cannot call back the loans or change the pre-agreed rates – thus Islamic banking stabilises the financing conditions for debtor firms. Realising the virtues of these practices, Bank Asya was established in 1996 in Turkey in accordance with the principles of interest-free banking. Since then this young and energetic bank has become the leading player of this sector in Turkey, and ranks 13th in assets among the 48 nationally operating banks. Bank Asya gained its respected position in the banking and financial services sector thanks to its growing capital, strong profitability, solid funding and high quality service. The bank’s most important goal has been adoptting a customer-focused approach, offering its clients the best service possible along with the most advanced technology available, hence being able to bring interest-free banking to the masses.International confidence In this process, Bank Asya became the first participation bank in Turkey to go public and has been listed on the Istanbul Stock Exchange  with the ticker ASYAB. At 2010 year-end, the free float reached 53 percent of its capital; today 59 percent of ASYAB shares are hold by international institutional investors. In March 2011 Bank Asya received over $300m in a murabaha syndicated loan […]

From a humble beginning as a trading house in 1977, Al-Tuwairqi Holding Company (ATH) is now one of the leading businesses in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The company has shown a phenomenal growth over the last two decades and today is among the top five private sector industrial concerns in the Kingdom. Dr Hilal Hussain Al Tuwairqi, the chairman of ATH, has developed the company into a well-known name in Saudi Arabia, mainly due to its large-scale steel manufacturing activities – its primary focus being the steel sector – but also in a number of related engineering fields after successfully diversifying the business. Growth and expansionThe company has grown and expanded vastly since its emergence in 1977, Dr Tuwairqi explains. “Change is the only constant in Al-Tuwairqi Holding,” he says. “We always remain focused on developing, as far as possible, the know-how in-house, while continuously striving to remain abreast with the latest technologies, in order to remain competitive and overcome the challenges of a cut-throat competition in today’s competitive world.” Whatever ATH earns, Dr Tuwairqi explains, is primarily re-invested for augmentation in capacity, modernisation, automation and expansion projects.  “In steel manufacturing, we firmly believe that our value addition chain must be complete, starting from the mining of the basic raw material up to the finished products directly going into the hands of the end users.” Core valuesThe company’s core values of honesty, integrity and team work are  reflected in everything ATH is involved with. “Al-Tuwairqi Holding basically is a […]