Bumped ~
~snip
2006 ~"Mrs Clinton's financial disclosure forms reveal that her husband earned $450,000 (€377,000, £257,000) giving speeches in Dubai in 2002. Officials from the UAE also reportedly donated between $500,000 and $1m to fund Mr Clinton's presidential library in Arkansas – part of an effort, a person close to UAE officials says, by the emirates to forge a close relationship to the former US president" and ... 2008 ~ Should the UAE be allowed in? How can Hillary decide fairly when Bill — and therefore herself — have been getting a reported $10 million per year from a fund that administers the investments of the Emir of Dubai, the largest component state in the UAE?
30 Nov 2009
UAE central bank sets up emergency loan facility
DUBAI: The United Arab Emirates’ central bank set up an emergency facility on Sunday to support bank liquidity in the first policy response to Dubai’s debt woes that threatened to paralyse lending and derail economic recovery.
Dubai rocked the financial world on November 25 when it said it would ask creditors of Dubai World, the conglomerate behind its rapid expansion, and Nakheel, builder of its palm-shaped islands, to agree to a standstill on billions of dollars of debt as a first step to restructuring.
As a result, banks face heavy losses and the risk that fearful depositors could rush to remove cash from the system, and threatening inter-bank lending with the second-largest Arab economy still facing a downturn this year.
“It might support the market a little bit, but I don’t think it is enough,” said Shawkut Raslan, head of brokerage at Prime Emirates brokerage. “I think some foreigners will take their money of the country and others will be afraid to put their money into these markets.”
The central bank policy move came late on Sunday as Dubai’s Supreme Fiscal Committee gathered to prepare a statement before market open on Monday in an attempt to reassure investors. The central bank said it opened a “special additional liquidity facility linked to their current accounts” at 50 basis points over 3-month Emirates interbank offered rate (EIBOR), but offered no further details.
The central bank also said the banking system was more sound and liquid than a year ago, when the global crisis ended the oil- and real estate-fuelled boom in Arab Gulf, the world’s top oil producing region. The monetary authority said on Saturday it was closely watching events stemming from the Dubai debt crisis to ensure there is no negative impact on the UAE economy.
Before the Dubai debt crisis, the UAE economy was seen falling by 1.1% this year before returning to a 2.9% growth in 2010, a Reuters poll of analysts showed earlier this month.
Analysts said the central bank’s move was a preventive measure to avoid a possible capital flight and a run on deposits when markets reopen on Monday after a four-day holiday break. “It is important because the main concern is that there might be some panic behaviour by depositors in Dubai and by bankers who want to take deposits out of the banking system,” said John Sfakianakis, chief economist at Banque Saudi Fransi-Credit Agricole Group in Riyadh.
Senior bankers in Abu Dhabi, Dubai’s oil-rich cousin in the UAE federation, told Reporters on Friday that Abu Dhabi banks have built up an exposure to Dubai-based companies worth at least 30% of their loan books.
In reaction to Dubai’s debt problems, Fitch Ratings has said it downgraded Dubai Bank, Tamweel and Bahrain’s TAIB Bank. “It (the facility) would cover the immediate concerns related to deposits in the UAE banks,” said Ghanem Nuseibeh, senior analyst at Political Capital consultancy. “It doesn’t mean that lending would necessarily ease. It is no guarantee for depositors. We still don’t know the extent of the UAE banks’ exposure to Dubai’s problems,” he said.
State-run Dubai World had $59 billion of liabilities as of August, a large proportion of Dubai’s total debt of $80 billion and repayment of Nakheel’s $3.5 billion worth of Islamic bonds, which were originally due to mature on December 14, was widely expected by the market to be met. Last year, the UAE finance ministry poured $6.8 billion into bank deposits, the first tranche of a $19.1 billion rescue facility it set up to help lenders weather the onslaught of the global credit crisis.
It deposited another $6.8 billion into banks in November 2008, but has not made any statements since regarding the remainder of those funds. This came after the central bank set up a $13.6 billion emergency bank facility to combat the crisis.
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09334/1017298-82.stm
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Hillary Clinton 'unaware' of Bill's Dubai ties
03-Mar-2006
Hillary Clinton, a leading force of opposition against Dubai's takeover of some US port operations, this week admitted she did not know that her husband, the former president Bill Clinton, had offered Dubai leaders advice on how to handle the brewing controversy over the transaction.
But Mr Clinton's ties to Dubai and the United Arab Emirates should not have come as a surprise to the New York senator, who has argued that the sale of port operations to a UAE-controlled company represented an "unacceptable risk" to national security.
Mrs Clinton's financial disclosure forms reveal that her husband earned $450,000 (€377,000, £257,000) giving speeches in Dubai in 2002. Officials from the UAE also reportedly donated between $500,000 and $1m to fund Mr Clinton's presidential library in Arkansas – part of an effort, a person close to UAE officials says, by the emirates to forge a close relationship to the former US president.
Mr Clinton's admiration for the UAE was last on display in November, when the former president made his fourth visit to the American University in Dubai and met students who have benefited from the Clinton scholarship programme.
The UAE has also contributed to an issue close to the hearts of both the Clinton and Bush families, having donated $100m to Hurricane Katrina relief efforts.
Mrs Clinton's tough stance has given UAE officials some consternation, a person familiar with the deal said. The woman regarded as the leading Democratic candidate for the 2008 presidential elections has used the transaction, which polls show is unpopular with a majority of Americans, to attack the Bush administration on an issue that is considered a weak point for Democrats: national security.
Although Mrs Clinton has been careful not to criticise the UAE directly, her stance has put her in the same camp as legislators who openly accuse Dubai of helping to finance the September 11 terrorist attacks and deem the UAE to be untrustworthy.
Privately, some Democrats see revelations about Mr Clinton's ties to the UAE as a classic Clinton dilemma. Although both Hillary and Bill Clinton say the former president stands behind his wife on the issue, his relationship to the UAE has complicated her position.
The UAE has sought to quell concerns over the deal by hiring a handful of former Clinton officials and other Democrats to lobby on Dubai's behalf. One Democratic lobbyist approached Joe Lockhart, the former press secretary for Mr Clinton, though he turned down the request.
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Saturday, January 19, 2008
As American banks go hat in hand to foreign financial institutions and governments, begging for capital to help them get out of the mess into which their subprime loans have landed them, the question arises as to whether the United States should permit nations like China, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the banks they control to acquire part ownership of our leading banks.
The presidential candidates discussed this issue in their Nevada debate and Hillary was asked about it in an interview with Neil Cavuto on the FOX Business Network yesterday. She replied that she would not “stand in the way” of such investments, but said that they needed to be vetted and called for more disclosure and “transparency.”
The fact is that Hillary Clinton is totally unable to be objective on this key question of our national financial sovereignty because she and her husband have been so compromised by their financial dealings with the very countries at issue in the decision.
Should the Saudi monarchy be permitted to purchase an important equity position in some of America’s leading banks? How can Hillary be objective when the very same monarchy donated $10 million to the Clinton Library and Foundation?
Should the UAE be allowed in? How can Hillary decide fairly when Bill — and therefore herself — have been getting a reported $10 million per year from a fund that administers the investments of the Emir of Dubai, the largest component state in the UAE?
The Dubai Ports deal compromised our national security by putting key points of entry in that nation’s control. But the infusion of capital and the acquisition of equity in our key banks has the potential to make that encroachment on our sovereignty seem piddling by comparison.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1956151/posts
