News, current affairs comments, local conditions and customs about the Middle East.

The latest news in the Middle East: Fan Yifei is satisfied with its cooperation with Bank of America, and CCB's investment in the Middle East has not suffered losses. On April 1 day, Fan Yifei, Vice President of China Construction Bank (60 1939SH, 0939HK), accepted an exclusive interview with China Times and other media and gave a detailed answer to the overseas development strategy of the bank. Fan Yifei also introduced in detail the issues that the market is concerned about. He said that CCB's investment in the Middle East has not lost money; In the past four years, China Construction Bank and Bank of America have fully abided by and implemented the original agreement, which has become a classic case of state-owned banks opening to foreign investment. Fan Yifei said that CCB's loan in the Middle East did not cause losses. For loans that may be negatively affected, provisions have been fully made according to the principle of prudence, and the restructuring has been successful not long ago. At present, the bank has no loan balance from commercial institutions in Dubai. Fan Yifei said that CCB has long been concerned about the economic development in the Gulf region, including Dubai, and was deeply impressed by its internationalization and diversification measures. He believes that Dubai and other places have their unique advantages and good prospects, and CCB has been actively and cautiously exploring ways to expand its business in these areas, including adding specialized institutions when appropriate. Earlier, some media reported that the large amount of bad debts of overseas investment of CCB in 2009 included about $654.38 billion in loans from its Hong Kong branch to Dubai World, equivalent to about RMB 7 billion. The debt restructuring plan announced by Dubai World (Group), a corporate entity controlled by the Dubai government, which was once in trouble due to the debt crisis, was supported by major creditors including HSBC Holdings and Royal Bank of Scotland. Dubai World issued a statement on March 25th, saying that the company plans to raise funds by issuing two new bonds in the next five to eight years, and repay all debts owed by other creditors except Dubai Financial Aid Fund, totaling about $654.38+$04.2 billion. In addition, the Dubai government also indicated that it will provide Dubai World with a new capital injection of $9.5 billion to help it complete its debt restructuring. According to another report, the data disclosed by the United Arab Emirates Banking Association showed that by the end of 2008, among the top ten banks with the largest loan balance to the country, HSBC had the largest amount of US$ 654.38+US$ 07.03 billion; Lloyd's Bank of the United Kingdom has at least $654.38+57 million, and CCB is not among them. Fan Yifei, a classic case of cooperation with Bank of America, said that in June 2005, China Construction Bank signed an investment agreement with Bank of America and signed a strategic assistance agreement at the same time. In September of the same year, strategic assistance was officially launched. "For more than four years, the two sides have fully abided by and implemented the original agreement, which has become a classic case of state-owned banks opening to foreign investment." Up to now, China Construction Bank and Bank of America have completed 4 1 assistance projects, 3 1 consulting projects and 233 experience sharing projects, and more than 1.550 experts from Bank of America have participated in strategic assistance. Forty-three middle managers went to the United States for on-the-job training in the fifth session, and nearly 3,900 employees received various trainings provided by American bank experts. After more than four years of cooperation, strategic assistance has enabled CCB to obtain comprehensive benefits in changing concepts, introducing technology, improving processes and cultivating talents. The international advanced bank management concept is gradually transformed into CCB's daily actions, such as introducing the "customer voice" survey method of Bank of America to promote the implementation of CCB's "customer-centered" concept; Learn from the "data management" of Bank of America to promote the transformation of CCB's management mode from "experience management" to "data management"; Learn from the standardization and unification of American banking processes, and promote the construction of CCB's "process bank". Through the close cooperation between the two parties, CCB has achieved substantial results in all key business and management areas. Ordinary retail outlets have changed from "transaction accounting" to "sales service". By the end of 2009, China Construction Bank had completed the renovation of 65,438+3,000 outlets. After the transformation, the average daily sales of outlet products increased by 64.8%, the average waiting time of customers was shortened by 33.3%, and the proportion of customers whose waiting time was less than 10 minute reached 8 1%. Wealth management center has changed from "product-driven" to "customer-driven". * * * There are 1.200 outlets that have achieved the second generation transformation. The VIP customer service time is 3 1% higher than that before the transformation, and the product sales performance is 14% higher than that before the transformation. The survey of independent institutions shows that the service quality of CCB outlets is second to none among major banks. Fan Yifei was very satisfied with CCB's acquisition of BofA Hong Kong and its development in Asia after the acquisition. On February 29th, 2006, CCB completed the acquisition of Bank of America Asia with HK$ 9765,438+0 billion, and changed its name to China Construction Bank (Asia) Co., Ltd. CCB Asia has become the main platform for CCB to carry out retail and commercial banking business in Hong Kong and Macao. In the past three years, CCB Asia has achieved rapid development by leaps and bounds: assets have increased from HK$ 36.9 billion to HK$ 8 16 billion, customer deposits have increased from HK$ 26 10 billion to HK$ 52.6 billion, and customer loans have increased from HK$ 26.6 billion to HK$ 60.7 billion. In addition, the number of retail outlets in Hong Kong and Macau increased from 65,438+07 at the end of 2006 to 48 (40 in Hong Kong and 8 in Macau). In the process, CCB Asia also completed the tasks of institutional business integration, cutting off from the American banking system, and acquiring the American International Credit (Hong Kong) Co., Ltd., and achieved an after-tax profit of HK$ 888 million in 2009, a record high. CCB's business in Hong Kong is increasingly rich. On June 5438+065438+ 10, 2009, CCB Asia successfully acquired American International Credit (Hong Kong) Limited (AIGF) and changed its name to China Construction Bank (Asia) Finance Limited (CCBAF). As a restricted licensed bank, CCBAF mainly deals in credit cards, personal unsecured loans and auto loans. The number of credit cards issued exceeds 500,000, with about 480,000 cardholders, accounting for about 5% of the credit card market in Hong Kong. What makes CCB satisfied is the unusual purchase price. It should be said that due to the full support of the management of CCB Head Office, the key to a successful acquisition at an ideal price is to seize the opportunity and operate quickly. The purchase price of $73.5 million is less than 0.5 times its net asset value. In financial accounting alone, CCBAF's net assets at the end of September last year had reached HK$ 654.38+HK$ 25.4 million, nearly HK$ 600 million more than the purchase price. At present, the overseas acquisition rate is three times and four times, and this acquisition is indeed "unusual". According to the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Wu Sike, China's special envoy for the Middle East, held talks with the EU Special Representative for the Middle East in Brussels on April 1. The two sides exchanged in-depth views on the Middle East issue, expressed concern about the stagnation of the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, and called on all parties concerned to cooperate with the efforts of the international community to promote peace and take practical actions to create conditions for the resumption of peace talks. The two sides unanimously stated that they will strengthen coordination and cooperation and jointly promote the early realization of comprehensive and lasting peace and stability in the Middle East. According to foreign reports, 20 10 sportacord is a five-day sports event, at which 1500 international sports representatives will attend. The annual meeting includes more than 100 congresses and plenary meetings of international sports federations and their related associations. This year, the 8th annual international sports conference will be held in Atlantis, the resort of Palm Island in Dubai, from April 25th to 30th, 20 10, which is the first time to hold an international sports conference in the Middle East. In order to highlight Dubai's status as an international center city, the themes of the 20 10 International Sports Conference are "the geographical changes of international sports" and "the key role of sports in major international affairs". Other related topics include: the role of sports in social change, sports in the Middle East, the leading role of sports in sustainable development, sports autonomy and sports sponsorship. Speakers at the conference include: Joseph -S.- Blatter, President of FIFA, Nawal, former Moroccan sports minister, and Chairman of the Rio 20 16 Coordination Committee. They will talk about the role of sports autonomy and non-sports authorities in sports management respectively. The adoption of the Lisbon Treaty by the European Union in February 2009 marked a key turning point in the field of sports supervision in 20 10, and also promoted the role of Brussels in the Middle East. This is the first time that the European Union has given the sports community the so-called support authority. The newly launched Pierre De Coubertin Action Plan of the European Union includes more than 50 suggestions on sports activities, which highlights the positive role of sports in social, economic and organizational fields. In the strategy meeting hosted by Michael -R.- Payne, former director of marketing and broadcasting rights of the International Olympic Committee, CEOs from major sports sponsors around the world will discuss recent hot issues and market trends. Representatives from Adidas, Swiss Timekeeping, Audi and Emirates will provide us with the deepest insights on how sponsors and sports circles should cooperate to achieve the most effective partnership. Middle East oil producers have been hoarding crude oil in Asia to prevent Russia from stealing business. European and American countries used to be the center of oil demand. However, after the global financial crisis, demand has been sluggish, and oil-producing countries in the Middle East have been forced to seize the Asian and Russian markets. Russia's increasing crude oil supply to Asia may prompt Middle Eastern oil producers to speed up their inventory plans in Asia. Russia supplies high-quality and cheap crude oil through its oil pipeline from East Siberia to the Pacific coast, which is likely to replace the Middle East oil producers in major Asian oil consumption markets such as Chinese mainland, India, South Korea and Taiwan Province Province of China. June 5438+February last year, Saudi Arabian Oil Minister Al-Naimeh said that Saudi Arabia had accepted the proposal to build "millions of barrels" of crude oil commercial stocks in Japan, which highlighted the growing importance of China and Asia as demand centers. The plan is still under discussion. Saudi Arabia lags behind Abu Dhabi in seizing the East Asian market. As early as last year, Abu Dhabi National Oil Company stored crude oil in Snoely in southern Japan. According to industry insiders, in addition to North Asia, oil-producing countries in the Middle East are also studying the possibility of storing crude oil in South Asia and Southeast Asia. According to sources, the underground oil storage facilities being built in Singapore have attracted the interest of oil-producing countries in the Middle East, including Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia is also considering storing crude oil in China. Russia currently transports about 300,000 barrels of ESPO crude oil to Asia, and plans to increase it to 600,000 barrels per day before the end of this year. Although the export volume is not large compared with the Gulf region, Russian crude oil can directly enter a few consumption centers whose demand is still growing, thus threatening the market share of producers in the Middle East.