Business Extra

HSBC may cut as many as 10 thousand jobs worldwide as part of its latest cost cutting drive but where next for the bank that was at one time the poster child of globalisation?

Host Mustafa Alrawi, Assistant Editor in Chief, takes a look at how banks in Europe are looking to make savings. In a world where the US-China trade war, Brexit, a weak European economy, lower interest rates and the resulting uncertainty is affecting growth, how is the financial sector coping? Also, in this episode Mustafa speaks to Nai Arabia's founders Hisham El-Farouki and Fouad Dajani as Jordan's Fine Hygienic Holding, a paper products manufacturer, becomes the largest single shareholder in the Dubai based natural food and beverage company. The deal is valued at over $10 million.

 

In This Episode:

-HSBC (0m 44s)

-Nai Arabia (5m 45s)

-Headlines (17m 49s)

Read more on our website:

• HSBC to cull 10,000 jobs as it looks to rein in costs

• Venture funding for Middle East start-ups up 30% in first 9 months

• UAE first in the Arab region to roll-out 5G and fourth globally

•Fine acquires 30% stake in Nai Arabia in wellness shift

Saudi Arabia’s opens up and begins to issue tourist visas for the first time. Host Mustafa Alrawi, assistant editor in chief and future editor Kelsey Warner, speak to The National’s Ashleigh Stewart who is in Saudi Arabia as they launch their latest tourism industry initiative.

 

People from 49 countries are able to obtain a 90 day, multiple entry tourist visa for the kingdom. Tourism is a key component of Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 programme with expectations to boost international and domestic visits to 100 million a year by 2030. This will mean an increase of the tourism sector‘s contribution towards gross domestic product to 10 per cent in that time, up from just 3 per cent today. This includes major new developments – being termed as ‘giga’ projects: NEOM, the Red Sea Project, Qiddiyah, Amaala and Ad Diriyah. This comes as the kingdom’s non-oil gross domestic product grew 2.9 per cent year-on-year in the second quarter, higher than 2.1 per cent rate of expansion achieved in the first quarter of 2019, according to the latest data released by the General Authority for Statistics. The pick up in non-oil economic growth was the strongest since the fourth quarter of 2015, when Riyadh started putting fiscal consolidation measures in place to counter a three-year oil price slump that began in the middle of 2014.

 

In this episode: 

- Introduction (0m 29s)

- Interview with Ashleigh Stewart in Saudi Arabia (3m 31s)

- Mustafa and Kelsey in studio discussion (17m 54s)

- Headlines (31m 01s)

 

Read more on our website:

• From NEOM to Ad Diriyah: Saudi Arabia's 'giga projects' and when they are expected to be completed

• New Saudi Arabia tourist visas: everything you need to know

• Saudi Arabia announces tourism mega projects with local and global investors

• Saudi Arabia's top tour guide: Visitors will change the rhythm of our country

• 'We want local people running local businesses': Hilton aims to bring 41 new hotels to Saudi Arabia by 2030

In 1841, 500 passengers took a 24-mile round-trip by train from Leicester in central England to the neighbouring town of Loughborough. This was the first excursion organised by a Mr  Thomas Cook

178 years later his eponymous company announces it has ceased trading disrupting the travel plans of some 600,000 people from Goa to Gambia to Greece and threatening tens of thousands of jobs worldwide.

This week, Mustafa Alrawi, assistant editor in chief and Kelsey Warner, future editor, are joined by Hayley Skirka to talk about one of the oldest travel companies in the world and its downfall. Andrew Wilks, a regular contributor for The National, speaks to them from Antalya, Turkey. He has been speaking to tourists affected by the Thomas Cook collapse. What lead to the company’s problems? There are accusations of bad management with investigations underway. But the coup attempt in Turkey in 2016 and a Europe-wide heatwave in 2018 impacted the company’s profits along with a growing inability to compete with online travel companies. Now the British government said the return of the firm's 150,000 British customers would be the largest repatriation in its peacetime history.

 

In this episode: 

- Thomas Cook (0m 59s)

- Headlines (26m 21s)

 

Read more on our website:

• Thomas Cook passengers in Turkey frustrated by travel confusion

• Thomas Cook's creditors have a right to feel aggrieved

• Thomas Cook collapse: Boris Johnson accused of abandoning world’s oldest travel company

• Thomas Cook collapse: stranded Britons face demands for hotel payment

• A history of British travel: a look back at Thomas Cook's vintage posters

Early on Saturday morning, attacks on Saudi Aramco’s giant oil plant caused major fires, disrupting about half of the kingdom’s crude production.

From a record spike in oil prices to an escalation of tensions in the region after the US blamed Iran for being behind the strikes. The fallout has everyone inside the region and around the world on tenterhooks for what it could mean for global energy markets and Middle East stability.

Host Mustafa Alrawi, assistant editor in chief and Kelsey Warner, assistant business editor, welcome The National’s energy correspondent, Jennifer Gnana and foreign editor James Haines-Young, for an in depth discussion on the ramifications of the attacks in the region and globally. 

 

In this episode:

- Saudi oil attack (1m 11s) 

- Headlines (25m 56s)

 

Read more on our website:

• Anwar Gargash: Saudi Aramco attacks a 'dangerous escalation'

• Donald Trump to send Mike Pompeo to Saudi after Aramco attacks

• Oil surges more than 19% after attacks halve Saudi output

• Donald Trump: US is ‘locked and loaded’ after Saudi oil attack

• Houthi-claimed drone and missile attacks against Saudi Arabia this year

Developers Miral in Abu Dhabi and Neom in Saudi Arabia have made big announcements on new construction projects. Miral has secured investment from a Singapore-based company for its 108,600 square metre Yas Village development on Yas Island and Saudi Arabia’s Neom has awarded contracts to two companies to build a village that will accommodate up to 30,000 workers who will build the futuristic city of the same name.

 

Host and Assistant Editor in Chief at The National, Mustafa Alrawi speaks to Assistant Business Editor, Michael Fahy about the announcements and what they mean for the property markets in the GCC neighbours.

 

Meanwhile rental rates have been falling in the UAE capital this quarter with large drops since this time last year and Emaar properties in Dubai have asked property owners to stop renting out their units as holiday homes on the same day they have launched their digital platform for short term rentals. 

 

In this episode: 

- New construction projects (0m 43s)

- Abu Dhabi rent (1m 37s)

- Emaar’s short term rentals (15m 32s)

- Headlines (22m 03s)

 

Read more on our website:

• Saudi Arabia's Neom signs deals with contractors for construction village

• Miral secures backing for Yas Village scheme

• Aldar to sell residential land plots on Saadiyat Island

• Where Abu Dhabi rents have risen and fallen, Q2 2019

• Emaar bans holiday home operators in Downtown as it ventures into short-term rental market

Most millennials expect to be more financially stable than their parents but almost half feel they are failing or off to a slow start on that goal. Host Mustafa Alrawi, Assistant Editor in Chief at The National, speaks to Kelsey Warner, resident millennial and The National’s Assistant Business Editor, about why so many of her generation feel the burden of financial pressures and “adulting”.

 

Also in this episode we take a look at how Elon Musk and Jack Ma have very different opinions on the future of AI and what that means for the future of humans.

 Read more on our website:

•  Millennials in UAE burnt out by the financial stress of 'adulting'

•  Elon Musk's AI dystopia is no match for Jack Ma's logic

A survey of thousands of professionals and employers in the region shows that almost all are optimistic about their careers amid shifts in technology and types of jobs

  

Nine out of ten 10 professionals in the UAE feel upbeat about the future of work but how optimistic should you be about your own career prospects in a fast changing world?

 

Mustafa Alrawi, Assistant Editor in Chief, and Kelsey Warner and Chris Nelson, Assistant Business Editors discuss the state of the workplace and how technological trends are changing the nature of jobs and employers' attitudes for the better.

 

Also we discuss the tie-up between DP World and Zhejiang China Commodity City Group Company to build a smart free zone marketplace at Jebel Ali, as well as the broader implications of the volatility caused to global markets by the US-China trade war.

In this episode:

- Headlines (0m 38s)

- DP World (1m 21s)

- US-China trade (4m 37s)

- Future of work (11m 56s)

Read more on our website:

•Majority of UAE professionals optimistic about the 'future of work'

•DP World and China to develop 'smart' marketplace in Jebel Ali

•US trade war with China keeps oil markets guessing

In the episode, host Chris Nelson is joined by fellow Assistant Business Editor Michael Fahy and The National's personal finance correspondent Nada El Sawy to talk about the company, what its plans are and the growth of the sector both here and abroad.

Also, we take a look at the strange goings-on at last week's major classic car auction in Monteray, California. Auction goers consisting of aficiandos and collectors at the much-anticipated sale of rare vehicles were left open-mouthed after an apparent blunder by the RM Sotheby's auction MC saw bidding for a rare 1939 'Porsche' - list price $20 million (Dh73.4m) - reach an eye-watering "$70m", only for it to emerge that the auctioneer had in fact said, or meant to say,  $17m.

Comments from those among the crowd right after the error included: “It worked for Banksy; it didn’t work for RM,” a reference to the 2018 Sotheby’s sale which saw a piece of artwork by Banksy shredded in a surprise stunt just after it sold.

In this episode:

- Headlines (0m 36s)

- FlexxPay (5m 21s)

- 'Porsche' (16m 15s)

Read more on our website:

• FlexxPay allows employees to access salary in between pay cheques

• Auction slip-up sees Dh73m 1939 'Porsche' fail to sell

$46.9 billion – the headline profit figure from Saudi Aramco’s first half results is staggering. The company also says it is ready for a planned IPO, possibly next year, and lines up a stake buy in Reliance Industry’s oil to chemicals business.

 

Mustafa Alrawi, assistant editor in chief, Kelsey Warner and Chris Nelson, assistant business editors, discuss Aramco with Jennifer Gnana, The National's energy correspondent, who has been reporting on a story that is proving to be a game changing time for global markets and the energy sector.   

We also talk about the Danish city of Aarhus which has become a renewable energy hub and a case study for any other cities looking to lead the sector. And Kelsey describes how her Generation Start-up subject, the US firm Entrupy helps Dubai spot fakes using AI.

In this episode:

- Headlines (0m 43s)

- Aramco (1m 21s)

- Aarhus (18m 41s)

- Entrupy (22m 04s)

Read more on our website:

• Saudi Aramco posts $46.9bn H1 profit as company set to buy 20% of Reliance

• Generation start-up: US firm helps Dubai spot fakes using AI

•Denmark a role model for renewable energy

Fad or the future of city transport? That is the debate around electric scooters (or e –scooters) as they get set to come to a street near you. Careem is in talks to run one of Abu Dhabi's first e-scooter rental services after the capital legalised the leasing of the vehicles.

The ride-share company - which was bought by Uber for more than $3 billion this year - said it sees two-wheel devices as the future of "micro-mobility". Globally, in dense urban areas scooters are increasingly being seen as the answer for efficient personal transportation. Over the last two years electric scooters have become far more widespread. Urban planners, investors and authorities are taking the trend very seriously. But what does that mean for us here? Host Mustafa Alrawi, Assistant Editor in Chief, Chris Nelson, Assistant Business Editor and London Bureau Chief Damien McElroy discuss the impact of this new development in mobility both here and around the world.   

We also focus on how the China-US row has kicked up a gear this week after Washington accused Beijing of manipulating its currency “to gain unfair competitive advantage in international trade”.

In this episode:

- Headlines (1 minute 21 seconds)

- China-US trade tensions (2 minutes 10 seconds)

- E-scooters (10 minutes 2 seconds)

- Damien McElroy (14 minutes 41 seconds)

Read more on our website:

• Abu Dhabi legalises e-scooter rentals to cut congestion

• Careem looks to launch e-scooter rentals in Abu Dhabi

•New laws in the works after backlash against commuters on scooters

•US designates China ‘a currency manipulator’ as trade war flares

•What the pundits think about the latest escalation between the US and China