Regional Banking Profile:National Bank of Kuwait

National Bank of Kuwait has been named Best Bank in the Middle East 2013 by Global Finance magazine,as well as one of the world's 50 safest banks.Founded in 1952,the bank says it has focused on developing long term growth and a stable strategy.Our consistency in delivering strong results is a testimony to our strong financial position and focus on core banking business despite a challenging operating environment,said NBK group CEO Ibrahim Dabdoub.*NBK has 173 branches worldwide in 16 countries.In Kuwait itself,there are 64 branches,while Egypt has 41 branches,and Turkey has 20.The Shanghai and Singapore branches represent NBK in East Asia;and branches in New York,Paris and London fly the flag in the West.*NBK gets high credit ratings from all three major ratings agencies.Standard&Poor's gives it an A+;Fitch gives it a AA-;and Moody's assigns it an Aa3.They praise NBK for financial strength,strong franchise,technological sophistication,and stable and capable management team,the bank points out.*In 2012,NBK reported total assets of 58.398 billion dollars.Assets under management were 10.016 billion,and market cap was 14.585 billion.Net profit has risen steadily for the five year period,closing at 1.085 billion in 2012.*Part of NBK's strategy is diversifying its revenue stream by entering the field of Islamic banking.This was realised when it upped its stake in Boubyan Bank to 58.4%,effectively converting it to a subsidiary.Moody's hailed this move as providing a foothold to the growing Islamic banking sector,defending the bank against any market share attrition that results from a shift in customer preference towards Islamic banking.*National Bank of Kuwait S.A.K.(Kuwait Stock Exchange:NBK)

Author and Advisor:A Financial World Tour

I don't see much progress in Europe,but I'm still hoping,said William Rhodes of William Rhodes Global Advisors.The French and the Germans are arguing about bank union.It's always too little,too late.They need a package with a time table they can meet.Only if the markets really move against them will they move.
The growth rates are negative in Spain and Italy.At 2.5-3%,only Germany is not in recession.
It's really an open question whether the Federal Reserve's QE3 will work.All of this bond-buying will have to be unwound.
All of Asia is slowing down.A change in leadership in China is at hand.They've got to convert over more to domestic consumption.There are a lot of doubts floating around.This new leadership is gonna have a lot of challenges ahead of it:a slow US economy;a slow Europe;a China dropping from 11-12% growth to 7%,Mr.Rhodes observed.
William Rhodes is a former Citibank vice president.He is the author of "Banker to the World:Leadership Lessons From the Front Lines of Finance."

Assessing A Possible Greek Default

The consequences of a Greek default are being gauged by thought leaders in world financial capitals.Komal Sri-Kumar,Chief Global Strategist at TCW,says that,if Europe crashes,you're looking at the banking system being under very severe strain.As long as that is unknown,I think you're looking at a bit of trouble here.
Moody's,the ratings agency,downgraded the creditworthiness of two of France's three largest banks,Societe Generale and Credit Agricole,because of their exposure to Greek debt.The third bank,BNP Paribas,escaped the demotion.
You cannot just have Greece defaulting and everybody else doing fine.Greece defaulting will cause a series of defaults.If that happens,the impact on the U.S. economy and market will come from the financial system.It's gonna be even more difficult to get a mortgage in the U.S. because the Federal Housing Finance Agency is suing the big banks.
Dr.Kumar has said he believes we are already in a recession.He's staying with high grade fixed income for the next 2-3 months;after that,it's defensive stocks.
TCW,the Trust Company of the West,offers institutions and individuals a broad range of investment strategies.Since 1971,it has been committed to serving its clients through fundamental research and superior customer service.

Inside Russian Banking

VTB is Russia's second largest bank.It is selling a 10% stake in itself for three billion dollars.The government is ready to accept owning less than a majority stake now in Russia's largest companies,making such sales possible.
The Russian banking sector has recovered substantially.VTB went from a two billion loss in 2009 to a two billion profit for 2010.
Still,because of a lack of confidence in global growth,the Russian loan book is only growing at 5.5%.Basically,there is a lack of demand,a lack of confidence in the industrial sector in Russia.
As for new global capital requirements for banks,Russian regulations on capital were always more conservative than in the West,so that won't be a problem for Russian banks.They were already holding plenty of capital in reserve.
Andrei Kostin is CEO of the Russian bank VTB.