BUSINESS

Wednesday 16 October 2019

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CBQ customers urged to take

caution against phishing

GWC posts 10%growth in Q3 net profits

al khaliji reports 6% year-on-year growth in net profitTHE PENINSULA DOHA

Al Khalij Commercial Bank (al khaliji) announced yesterday its financial results for the third quarter (Q3) ended September 30, 2019, reporting a year to date net profit of QR497m registering a year-on-year growth of 6 percent. These results reflect an increase in operating income by growing assets, effectively managing margins, and a reduction in impairments.

Sheikh Hamad bin Faisal bin Thani Al Thani, Chairman and Managing Director of the Bank, said: “al khaliji closed its 3rd quarter delivering improved prof-itability year on year. We are par-ticularly proud to announce these results at a time when we have moved our Head Office to our purpose built al Khaliji Tower, located in the state of the art Lusail City. This marks a new phase in our journey and reinvigorates us to tailoring our business to meet requirements of our clients, and add value for our shareholders. We are proud of Qatar’s progress during this year, and are well posi-tioned to capitalize on its growth during the future.”

Commenting on the Q3, 2019 performance, Fahad Al Khalifa, al khaliji’s Group CEO of al khaliji, said: “We are pleased to report a 6 percent improvement in net profits year-on-year, which have come about by growing operating income as well as expanding our balance sheet. We continue to focus on our domestic market in Qatar, selectively capitalizing on opportunities and diligently

managing our margins.” Al Khalifa added: “Our move

to the new head office marks the next phase of our journey, cre-ating value for both our clients and shareholders. I am proud to note that this year as well our efforts have been recognised externally, which include several awards: Best Corporate Bank – Qatar by The European Magazine; Best Private Bank, The Interna-tional Business Magazine; and Best in Mobile Banking, Global

Finance. We remain focused on credit quality across the Group, and we continue to remain prudent in our provisioning. That said we have reduced overall impairment charges by 15 percent year on year.”

He added: “The Qatari Gov-ernment remains steadfast in its reform agenda, and laws such as the new Foreign Investments law will continue to keep the economy business friendly. With our strong capital base and excellent liquidity, alkhaliji will also steadily continue to build its franchise in Qatar. We are well positioned to benefit from increased business with our clients in both our Wholesale Banking and Private Banking franchises, as our clients tap into the commercial opportunities that the economy continues to present.”

Fahad Al Khalifa, Group CEO, al khaliji

Indosat Ooredoo signs SPAs to sell over 3,000 towersSATISH KANADY THE PENINSULA

Ooredoo announced yesterday that PT Indosat Tbk. (Indosat Ooredoo), a leading digital telco in Indonesia, has signed Sales and Purchase Agreements (SPAs) with each of PT. Dayamitra Telekomu-nikasi (Mitratel), and PT Profe-sional Telekomunikasi Indonesia (Protelindo), which have been declared the winning bidders of a competitive tender process for the sale by Indosat Ooredoo of 3,100 telecommunications towers.

The transactions are subject to customary closing conditions including shareholders’ approval of the company’s EGMS in November 21, 2019.

In a regulatory filing to Qatar Stock Exchange (QSE), Ooredoo noted Mitratel has been awarded 2,100 towers and Protelindo has been awarded 1,000 with a total transaction amount of IDR 6.39trillion approx. QR1.64bn. The

respective transaction consider-ations are all in cash to be paid fully at closing. Closing of each transaction is anticipated to take place before the end of the year.

Indosat Ooredoo will simul-taneously enter into a 10 year lease with each buyer for space on the sale towers at transaction closing.

Sheikh Sauod bin Nasser Al Thani, Group Chief Executive Officer of Ooredoo said: “We are pleased with the signing of these agreements, which will deliver significant benefits to all involved parties.

Two of Indonesia’s leading tower providers will lease these high quality tower portfolios back to Indosat Ooredoo on attractive terms. Monetising some non-core assets at a fair valuation will allow Indosat Ooredoo to unlock value of a portion of their tower business in order to speed up the exe-cution of their strategy.”

Results reflect an increase in operating income by growing assets, effectively managing margins, and a reduction in impairments.

Sheikh Hamad bin Faisal bin Al Thani, Chairman and Managing Director, al khaliji

Pak-Qatar Takaful to deepen investments in Pakistan

THE PENINSULA/DOHA

Pak-Qatar Takaful Chairman Sheikh Ali bin Abdullah Thani Al Thani called on Prime Minister Imran Khan in Islamabad yesterday and shared his future business and investment plans in Pakistan.

Quoting the Prime Minister’s Office, local media in Pakistan reported Sheikh Ali informed the Prime Minister that he is intended to invest in hospitality industry and the planning was in an advanced stage.

Sheikh Ali said his group Pak-Qatar Takaful had over 70 branches in Pakistan and was now interested in investing in real estate, housing and hospitality sectors. Sheikh Ali appreciated Pakistan Prime Minister’s efforts of promoting peace and security in the region.

��Sheikh Ali bin Abdullah Thani Al Thani (left), Chairman of Pak-Qatar Takaful, paid a courtesy call to Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan in Islamabad yesterday. Sheikh Ali shared his business and investments plans in Pakistan.

02 WEDNESDAY 16 OCTOBER 2019BUSINESS

Robert Ronai to train Qatari traders on ICC’s Incoterms 2020 rulesTHE PENINSULA DOHA

The International Chamber of Commerce-Qatar (ICC Qatar), in collaboration with the UK-based ‘London Institute of Banking and Finance’ (LIBF), will be hosting an educative and training workshop on the ICC’s Incoterms® 2020 rules, the language of international trade, which was launched recently during the ICC’s Centenary year in September 2019.

The Incoterms® 2020 rules will be providing certainty and clarity to businesses trading across borders everywhere. The one-day training programme will be addressed by Robert Ronai, a member of the Inco-terms Drafting Group. Ronai has more than five decades of expe-rience in a wide range of fields including, international banking and international trade.

The workshop will be held under the Patronage of Qatar Chamber and ICC Qatar Chairman Sheikh Khalifa bin Jassim Al Thani (pictured) on November 6, 2019 at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, Doha. The training will begin at 9:00am and end at 16:00pm.

The training will be bene-ficial for individuals who deal

with business transactions in buying and selling, freight for-warders, and consultants, among others. This compre-hensive Incoterms 2020 training will enable attendees to obtain 6 PDUs from the LIBF.

Sheikh Khalifa stressed the ICC Qatar’s keenness on providing the Qatari business community with the latest ICC Incoterms to keep pace with the development of international trade.

Sheikh Khalifa affirmed that learning these updated terms and rules would help parties know their contractual obliga-tions and avoid the risk of any legal complications, especially as they take account of the recent practices in international trade. In a press statement, ICC Qatar stressed the importance of these updated Incoterms 2020 rules which will be releasing after 10 years.

CBQ customers urged to take caution against phishingLANI ROSE R DIZON THE PENINSULA

The Commercial Bank (CBQ), Qatar’s first private bank, has warned its customers, as well as the general public to be alert against online banking fraud, especially phishing attacks which are on the rise.

About 91 percent of all cyber attacks start with phishing, a form of cybercrime which attempts to obtain sensitive information such as username, passwords, and credit card details, often for malicious reasons, by disguising as a trust-worthy entity through email, phone, SMS, or website impersonation.

As Qatar’s digital landscape continues to grow exponentially, the threat of cyberattacks also increases. And bank customers are popular targets of those who engage in phishing attacks, said Dr. Leonie Lethbridge, Executive General Manager and Chief Operating Officer at CBQ during a media roundtable in Doha recently.

She added that behind the phishing attacks, including SMS phishing which is notably prev-alent in Qatar, are organised crime gangs running large call centres that are typically oper-ating outside the country.

Phishers can impersonate bank websites in order to get unsuspecting users to provide their login credentials. They also attack their victims through emails or SMS phishing which contain links or phone numbers. After gaining access to the vic-tim’s bank account, phishers then use the information they gathered to make illegal pur-

chases and commit fraud. “One of the reasons why

people would attack Qatar is because of the very high per capita income in the country, so it can be relatively rewarding if you’re a phisher trying to take people’s money. That’s one of the reasons why we are saying to customers including the public to please educate your-selves. And please never dis-close your username, password, and one time password (OTP). We as a bank, will never ask you for these information. The bank will never send links or numbers to contact,” Leth-bridge added.

She went on to reiterate that in global terms, however, Qatar was actually comparatively safe, and there have been cases in the country where legal action was taken against criminal gangs in

relation to phishing attacks. “The level of security in

Qatar is actually quite high and the responsiveness of the police is quite high. We collaborate with both Ooredoo and Vodafone, and actively contact them when we see phishing cases and we ask them to block those numbers. Qatar as a whole has a National Security Operation Centre and we work closely with them. As a country, we need to collaborate and solve these problems together. We also partner with large global organisations in relation to security, and work hard to educate our customers and staff,” she added.

Benjamin Beaston, Chief Information Security Officer for Banking Operations at CBQ, added: “We’re continuously implementing new security measures and technologies to

stay ahead of the threats. We make sure we’re staying up to date with all the new tools and techniques that these hackers are using. They’re constantly evolving. And we absolutely want to partner more with fintechs”.

Lethbridge expects an ongoing growth in digital banking in Qatar, with digital speed being five times faster than traditional business. To date, CBQ’s customers login over 14 million times per year of which 10 million are done with biometrics such as fingerprint recognition. About 85 percent of the bank’s customers also prefer to use its mobile app. Over 95 percent of all banking transac-tions are done outside the branch, comprised of 60 percent digital transactions and 36 percent via ATM/self service.

FROM LEFT: Benjamin Beaston, Chief Information Security Officer, Banking Operations, Commercial Bank; Leonie Lethbridge, EGM and Chief Operating Officer; and Abeer Marwan Al Kalla, Head of Corporate Communications and CSR, Marketing, addressing the media on Sunday. PIC: SALIM MATRAMKOT/THE PENINSULA

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03WEDNESDAY 16 OCTOBER 2019 BUSINESS

GWC posts 10% growth in Q3 net profits THE PENINSULA DOHA

GWC, Qatar’s leading logistics provider, reported a net profit of QR182m for the third quarter of 2019 (Q3 2019), reflecting a 10 percent growth compared to QR166m by the end of the same period in 2018. Gross revenue was QR915m at the end of the third quarter of 2019. This corre-sponded with growth in earning per share for the company’s shareholders, which increased to QR0.31 (31 dirhams) at the end of Q3 2019, an 11 percent rise from QR0.28 during the same period in 2018.

“Our results are continuing the success story we’ve established over the last fifteen years, in pursuit of our long-term plans, and driven by the abilities and expertise we have gained. We are committed to offering solutions and infrastructure that make us the logistics provider of choice in the region, and ensuring our shareholders the best pos-sible returns,” said GWC Chairman

Sheikh Abdulla bin Fahad bin Jassem bin Jabor Al Thani.

The company’s various divisions have all banded together to achieve these results, by diversifying revenue streams and seeking new business opportunities, cross-selling and creating end-to-end

service packages, as well as by devel-oping solutions and processes that increase both efficiency and sustaina-bility in our company’s different practices.

“We maintain our commitment to setting a world-class standard in logistics

operations across all our service offerings, particularly as we come closer to our united goal of delivering the best World Cup in the sport’s history. To that end, GWC has established the local knowledge necessary to enable such international sports events with success, providing a convenient ‘single point of contact’ for sporting and event logistics, ensuring the delivery of all event essen-tials on time, and with total visibility and control,” added GWC Group CEO Ranjeev Menon.

GWC has worked closely on the biggest sports events held in Qatar since 2006, providing its clients unmatched local expertise, warehousing, distribution, and handling assets with the benefit of well-rounded international freight con-nection. These abilities are bolstered further by the company’s track record of financing, designing, developing, and operating of built-to-fit logistics hubs.

“Our track record of logistics infra-structure development and management is storied and fruitful, a fact that has

been especially useful for our clients in the oil and gas sector. With unparalleled safety, scale and efficiency, GWC ensures that all of the diverse needs of the oil and gas industry are met with the highest grade of professionalism,” said Menon.

GWC leverages the locational advantage and the expansive capabil-ities of its major petrochemical hubs delivering its services under strict and comprehensive safety measures that ensure the company’s staff and client’s interests are kept safe and sound.

GWC Group CEO Ranjeev MenonGWC Chairman Sheikh Abdulla bin Fahad bin Jassem bin Jabor Al Thani

The company’s various divisions have all banded together to achieve these results, by diversifying revenue streams and seeking new business opportunities, cross-selling and creating end-to-end service packages.

Google in smartphone push with motion-sensing Pixel 4AFP NEW YORK

Google yesterday unveiled its newest Pixel handsets, aiming to boost its smartphone market share with features including gesture recognition that lets users simply wave their hands to get things done.

Pixel 4 models made their public debut at a “Made by Google” event as the internet titan updated its hardware lineup ahead of the year-end shopping season.

Google said Pixel 4 has a starting price of $799 in the United States for the model with a 5.7 inch display and will be available starting October 24. A larger 6.3 inch Pixel XL will start at $899.

The new devices aim to ramp up Google’s challenge in the premium smartphone segment dominated by Samsung and Apple, which recently unveiled an iPhone 11 starting at $699.

Google’s New York City event unveiled included updates to Nest smart home cameras and speakers and also announced its streaming game service Stadia would launch November 19.

While Pixel smartphones have struggled for traction in the smartphone market, they provide an opportunity to showcase the Android operating system’s capabilities and the Google Assistant, powered by artificial intelligence.

Pixel 4 features improved camera capabilities, using arti-ficial intelligence to boost optical zoom and take better photos taken after dark, with a feature devoted to capturing images of

the heavens at night. Motion-sensing technology

that Google has been working on for some time is built into Pixel 4 and will allow for some basic controls, such as silencing alarms or skipping to the next song, by holding up or waving hands. The handsets also include a “face unlock” feature similar to those on iPhones and other devices.

Google’s hardware push comes with the company facing heightened scrutiny over its dominant position in internet search and digital advertising.

Amid antitrust reviews on both sides of the Atlantic, Google is seeking to diversify its business

by adding more devices and services.

The California-based internet titan will launch its Stadia streaming game service on November 19, hoping to send console-quality play soaring into the cloud.

Stadia allows video game play on any internet-connected device, eliminating the need for games consoles.

It will be priced at $9.99 per month and compete against Apple Arcade, which is being offered at half that price.

Google updated products across its hardware line, from Nest smart home devices to Chromebook laptops and

wireless ear buds infused with artificial intelligence.

A common theme was making it more natural to use Google to tap into the internet and digital assistant capabilities naturally with voice or gestures at any time.

The notion of online services and machine smarts being all around and always ready to serve people instead of needing them to tap at smartphones or keyboards is referred to as “ambient computing.”

“Our vision for ambient computing is to create a single, consistent experience anywhere you go,” said Rick Osterloh, head of Google’s hardware division.

Sabrina Ellis, Google vice president of product management, introduces the new Google Pixel 4 smartphone during a Google launch event yesterday in New York City. The new Pixel 4 and Pixel 4 XL phone is priced respectively at $799 and will begin shipping on October 24.

SoftBank taps Houlihan Lokey for WeWork restructuring adviceBLOOMBERG NEW YORK

SoftBank Group Corp has tapped investment bankers at Houlihan Lokey to explore options for easing WeWork’s cash crunch, according to people with knowledge of the discussions.

Houlihan is working on cutting liabilities as WeWork mulls a separate deal that could hand control of the struggling office-sharing company to SoftBank, its biggest shareholder, according to the people. They asked not to be named as the discussions are private.

Other measures for restructuring WeWork’s balance sheet could include renegotiating or terminating some existing leases to reduce WeWork’s indebtedness and

cash burn, the people said. Future lease payment obliga-tions as of June 30 were $47.2bn, according to the pro-spectus for WeWork’s aborted initial public offering.

WeWork prefers a plan led by JPMorgan Chase & Co to arrange a $5bn financing package to a Softbank-led rescue package, Bloomberg has reported. The board of WeWork’s parent, We Co, is working with investment bank Perella Weinberg Partners LP, Bloomberg reported. Both Perella and Houlihan have extensive practices focused on restructuring debts for troubled companies.

Representatives for Tokyo-based Softbank and Houlihan Lokey declined to comment.

WeWork is seeking to shore up its finances after pulling its IPO last month.

Warren Buffett seeks Fed leeway to boost stake in BoA past 10%BLOOMBERG NEW YORK

Warren Buffett’s (pictured) Berkshire Hathaway Inc. is seeking permission from the Federal Reserve to potentially increase its stake in Bank of America (BoA) to more than 10 percent, a level that often triggers a regulatory review. The bank’s shares rallied.

Berkshire, which disclosed in July that it had hit that threshold, filed an application with the Fed in recent weeks making a variety of assurances to show that it will passively invest in the bank, according to a copy of the application provided by the regulator.

Berkshire “may decide to purchase additional shares of common stock of Bank of America based on its evaluation

of the investment opportunity presented by such purchases,” the conglomerate wrote in the filing signed by Buffett, without specifying how many shares it might look to purchase.

Buffett struck a deal eight years ago to invest $5bn in Bank of America for preferred stock and warrants, helping shore up confidence in the lender as it faced losses tied to subprime mortgages. In 2017, the billionaire investor swapped the preferred shares for a $16bn-plus common-stock holding. Bank of America now ranks as Berkshire’s second-largest equity bet, behind Apple Inc.

Bank of America shares climbed as much as 3.8 percent after the news of the filing. They were up 2.7 percent at 1:37pm in New York. The lender

is set to report third-quarter results today. Buffett’s company said in the Fed filing that it doesn’t have any plans to sell Bank of America’s assets, merge it with any company or make any other significant change in its business strategy and corporate structure.

“We have appreciated Berkshire’s ownership for the past seven-plus years,” Bank of America said in a statement. “Through our success, Berk-shire and other long-term shareholders have benefited.

We look forward to Berkshire’s support as we continue to drive responsible growth at Bank of America.”

Berkshire said as of July 17 that the holding was 950 million shares, a stake that would be valued at more than $27bn as of Monday’s close. While Berkshire had been building its stake in Bank of America in recent years, the bank’s stock repurchases also helped push the Omaha, Nebraska-based conglomer-ate’s stake above the 10 percent level, according to the July reg-ulatory filing.

U.S. regulators tend to review relationships between investors and banks in which a shareholder could be viewed as having control over a lender. According to proxy statements and quarterly regulatory

filings, the only other investor in one of the six largest US banks that tops the 10 percent threshold is Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc’s 24 percent holding in Morgan Stanley, a remnant of the financial crisis.

With about $200bn of total equity investments to manage, it’s not the first time Buffett has bumped up against the own-ership threshold. In 2016, he ran up against the 10 percent level with another bank, Wells Fargo & Co, as it repurchased shares. Berkshire applied to the Fed, but later said it would cut its Wells Fargo stake because the central bank said the larger stake would limit Berkshire’s ability to do business with the lender.

With Berkshire’s American Express Co. stake, Buffett

agreed in the 1990s to be a passive shareholder and later received approval to increase that investment to as much as 24.99 percent, a level he has yet to reach.

The rules that determine whether an investor is deemed to have control over a bank may soon change. The Fed has submitted a proposal to clarify the factors and thresholds that determine control.

Buffett struck a deal eight years ago to invest $5bn in Bank of America for preferred stock and warrants.

Banks reap $1bn from US mortgage bond trading boomREUTERS/LONDON

Global banks earned $1bn from trading government-backed US mortgage securities in the first half of 2019, data shows, a fivefold increase on last year for what industry sources say is the fastest growing revenue source in investment banking.

The shift this year to a more dovish interest rate policy by the US Federal Reserve has sparked a surge in investor demand for packaged-up home loans issued by mortgage agencies Fannie Mae, Ginnie Mae and Freddie Mac. Banks that trade these securities, known as agency residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS), have profited both from increased commissions on trading them as well as holding them on their books as they appreciated in value. JP Morgan, Citi, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are seen among the biggest winners,

04 WEDNESDAY 16 OCTOBER 2019BUSINESS

‘Productivity pact for the full employment’ French Finance and Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire is flanked by Junior Minister for Economy and Finance Agnes Pannier-Runacher (left) and Minister of Higher Education, Research and Innovation Frederique Vidal (right) while attending the ‘Productivity pact for the full employment’ (pacte productif pour le plein-emploi) event at the Economy Ministry in Paris, yesterday.

Trade woes push IMF global growth outlook to decade-low of 3%

BLOOMBERG WASHINGTON

The International Monetary Fund made a fifth-straight cut to its 2019 global growth forecast, citing a broad decel-eration across the world’s largest economies as trade tensions undermine the expansion.

The world economy will grow 3 percent this year, down from 3.2 percent seen in July, with the 2020 estimate lowered to 3.4 percent from 3.5 percent, the fund said yesterday in its latest World Economic Outlook. The forecast for this year would be the weakest since 2009, when the world economy shrank, as the fund chopped projections from the US and Europe to China and India.

“With a synchronized slowdown and uncertain recovery, the global outlook remains precarious,” IMF Chief Economist Gita Gopinath wrote in the report. “There is no room for policy mistakes and an urgent need for policy makers to

cooperatively de-escalate trade and geopolitical tensions.”

The latest dimming of the outlook, just before annual meetings of the IMF and World Bank in Washington this week, reflects the economic costs of higher tariffs. Officials from around the world will convene as President Donald Trump’s trade policies remain one of the biggest global threats. Investors are awaiting more clarity on whether a breakthrough in the US-China talks last week will ease global uncertainties.

The global growth estimate for 2019 was as high as 3.9 percent in mid-2018. The IMF cited subdued economic momentum and weaker investment, slashing its estimate for the growth in trade volume to a “near standstill” pace of just 1.1 percent from 3.6 percent last year, though it also sees a pickup to 3.2 percent in 2020.

The IMF report said “risks seem to dominate the outlook,” but recent monetary easing in many countries “could lift demand more than projected, especially if trade tensions between the US and China ease and a no-deal Brexit is averted.”

Those threats and others have prompted warnings from both leaders of the global insti-tutions as new leadership takes over. Bulgarian economist Kris-talina Georgieva (pictured), pre-viously World Bank chief exec-utive officer, took over as IMF chief October 1, succeeding Christine Lagarde. World Bank

President David Malpass was selected in April.

Georgieva painted a downbeat picture in her first major address last week, saying a deeper slowdown could require coordinated fiscal stimulus. She has said her first priority is to help member nations lower the risk of crises and cope with potential downturns.

IMF economists dimmed their views across the largest economies. The fund cut its US 2019 growth estimates by 0.2 percentage point to 2.4 percent,

but raised it by the same margin to 2.1 percent next year.

Euro-area growth was reduced this year and next, to 1.2 percent and 1.4 percent. Esti-mates for Germany, France, Italy and Spain were lowered for both years. This year’s UK growth forecast was reduced to 1.2 percent. China projections were reduced for both years, to 6.1 percent and 5.8 percent respectively.

The IMF says continued policy support in major econ-omies and stabilization in some stressed emerging economies are

expected to lift growth modestly over the rest of 2019 and into 2020.

“The world economy faces difficult headwinds,” the outlook said. “Despite the recent decline in long-term interest rates cre-ating more fiscal room, the global environment is expected to be characterized by relatively limited macroeconomic policy space to combat downturns and weaker trade flows, in part reflecting the increase in trade barriers and anticipated pro-tracted t rade pol icy uncertainty.”

Gita Gopinath (left), IMF Chief Economist and Director of the Research Department, and Gian Maria Milesi-Ferretti, IMF Deputy Director, Research Department, answer questions from reporters at a briefing during the IMF and World Bank Fall Meetings yesterday in Washington, DC.

The forecast for this year would be the weakest since 2009, when the world economy shrank, as the fund chopped projections from the US and Europe to China and India.

ESG hardliners blacklist $16trn US Treasuries marketBLOOMBERG LONDON

Some of Europe’s strictest ESG funds are snubbing the world’s most liquid investment – the $16 trillion US Treasuries market.

A €33bn ($36bn) French state pension plan and ESG funds run by the likes of Erste Asset Man-agement, Joh. Berenberg Gossler & Co. and Union Investment all shun Treasuries based on the US government’s stance on capital punishment or climate change. The exclusions rank the US alongside arms makers, tobacco producers and distilleries in falling foul of environmental, social and governance standards.

“ESG-dedicated investors would usually avoid or question investments in US Treasuries,” said Rupini Deepa Rajagopalan, head of the ESG office at Ber-enberg, which oversees about €36.7bn. She cited the death penalty, nuclear weapons and the

US’s non-participation in global environmental accords, such as the Kyoto Protocol.

Boycotting Treasuries high-lights a key challenge for ESG managers that often divides the industry – defining what is and isn’t a “responsible” investment. It also shows how ESG investors have to balance ethical standards against the need to make money, particularly when avoiding large liquid markets makes it harder to spread risk or to react quickly in a crisis.

“For any global fixed-income fund, excluding all Treasuries is a very big and far reaching decision,” said Chris Brils, a port-folio manager at Actiam NV, which has more than $60 billion in assets. “And what if US Treas-uries outperform? You’d be giving up a lot of performance for the benefit of better ESG properties.” European ESG investors who shun Treasuries are also giving up an opportunity to capture

positive yields on sovereign debt. Ten-year Treasuries yield about 1.7 percent, compared with minus 0.47 percent in Germany.

The French Public Service Additional Pension Scheme, known as ERAFP, excludes Treas-uries because capital punishment is allowed in some states, according to Alice Blais, a spokes-woman. The fund, which manages pensions for civil servants, does buy US corporate debt.

Union Investment excludes Treasuries from the ¤48bn of assets that it runs on the strictest ESG criteria. The funds also avoid French OATs, due to the country’s atomic policy, and Poland is being monitored because of free-speech concerns.

The investor looks at US mortgage bonds as an alternative to Treasuries, according to Henrik Pontzen (pictured), head of ESG at Union, which oversees €349bn in total. It can also buy bonds from companies with high ESG

ratings, even if the proceeds aren’t specifically earmarked for sustainable projects, he said.

European bond buyers, tra-ditionally the heart of ESG investing, may also be more easily able to snub Treasuries than investors elsewhere because they are naturally less disposed to hold US debt. Still, this could change as ESG investing gains pace elsewhere.

Other ESG funds exclude sov-ereigns from their ESG criteria. The $126m Brown Advisory Sus-tainable Bond Fund invests “at

least 80 percent” of its funds in ESG-compliant debt, and then also holds securities from the US government and international government entities.

“We aim to achieve as close to 100 percent positive impact in the fund as we can,” said Amy Hauter, a portfolio manager at Baltimore-based Brown Advisory. “Since we do not view Treasuries as having a materially positive ESG impact, we invest in these securities minimally and primarily for liquidity and duration management.” Treasuries Quandary Robeco and Hermes Investment Management are among investors that don’t explicitly exclude Treasuries from sustainable funds, partly because they are focused on corporate rather than sovereign borrowers. Hermes recently launched a range of funds that aims to change the behavior of high-yield issuers in line with the United Nations’ Sus-tainable Development Goals. ESG investors are aware that boycotting

Treasuries, or other major nations’ debt, may not impact state policies. That’s because countries can easily sell notes to a host of other investors and because there is no major history of governments responding to bondholders’ non-financial concerns.

“It is far more difficult to lobby an overseas government on changing policy than an indi-vidual company that a fund may be able to meet face-to-face,” said Graeme Anderson, who is chairman of TwentyFour Asset Management and is leading the investment firm’s ESG efforts. “All investors have different opinions on what ESG means, but you have to be realistic.”

Germany to tap all fiscal options in case of economic crisis: ScholzREUTERS/BERLIN

Germany intends to stick to its balanced budget rules for now and boost spending without incurring new debt, Finance Minister Olaf Scholz told Reuters yesterday, adding that the government would use all fiscal options in a severe economic crisis.

Scholz’s remarks that Germany would loosen the purse strings to fight any downward economic spiral came days before world financial leaders meet in Washington to discuss how best to counter a slowing world economy.

Leading economic insti-tutes earlier this month called on Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government to ditch its budget policy of incurring no new debt if the growth outlook deteriorates. Asked about this recommendation, Scholz told Reuters in an interview that Germany was experiencing a phase of economic weakness caused by trade disputes, Brexit uncertainty and other political risks, such as Turkey’s invasion of northeastern Syria. But he insisted there was no economic crisis right now.

“We have a federal budget that works without new debt. Our massive investments and expansionary fiscal policies of recent years have worked without new debt – and will do so for the time to come,” Scholz said.

AP/BEIJING

A truce in a US-Chinese tariff war and Beijing’s promises to open more of its state-dominated economy are raising investor hopes. But Beijing is trying to temper expectations, while companies express frustration over the halting pace of market-opening.

The China Daily, an English-language newspaper aimed at foreign readers, warned yes-terday the two sides have yet to put last week’s agreement on paper after President Donald Trump suspended a planned tariff hike. In exchange, Trump said Beijing would buy up to $50 billion of American farm goods, a pledge China has yet to confirm.

“There is always the possi-bility that Washington may decide to cancel the deal if it thinks that doing so will better serve its interests,” said the newspaper. It called on the Trump adminis-tration to “avoid backpedaling.”

Business groups welcomed

the truce as a possible step toward ending the costly, 15-month-old fight but said it was a small one. Talks broke down earlier after Trump accused Beijing of back-sliding on promises Washington believed were locked in.

On Tuesday, a foreign min-istry spokesman said Chinese importers have bought 20 million tons of soybeans and 700,000 tons of pork this year from the United States. He gave no details on when that happened.

China’s imports of US soybeans fell by about half last year to 16.6 million tons from 2017’s 33 million tons. “China will further speed up procurement of US agricultural products,” said the spokesman, Geng Shuang. Friday’s agreement coincided with China’s announcement of a timetable to carry out a 2017 promise to abolish limits on foreign ownership of some finance businesses, starting with futures trading firms on Jan. 1. Securities firms and mutual fund managers follow later in the year. Investors saw that as a

commitment to freer trade. Chinese officials say it has nothing to do with the trade talks and isn’t a concession to Washington.

Over the past 18 months, President Xi Jinping’s government also has promised to allow full foreign ownership in banking, insurance and auto manufac-turing in hopes of making its slowing economy more compet-itive and productive.

None addresses US complaints that plans for government-led cre-ation of Chinese competitors in robotics and other industries violate Beijing’s market-opening commitments and are based on stealing or pressuring companies to hand over technology.

Chinese market-opening ini-tiatives follow a standard script. Authorities announce dramatic but vague promises that raise hopes abroad. Six months to a year passes while companies wait to see regulations. Many are dis-mayed when they impose costly licensing requirements or curbs on the size of a business.

China tempers hopes about US tariff truce

Boycotting Treasuries highlights a key challenge for ESG managers that often divides the industry – defining what is and isn’t a “responsible” investment.

05WEDNESDAY 16 OCTOBER 2019 BUSINESS

Tech vision

US faces a gauntlet of trade deadlines before year-endREUTERS WASHINGTON

Trade talks between the United States and China ended last week on a mostly uncertain note, but one thing was clear - the White House cancelled a scheduled tariff hike on $250bn in Chinese goods that would have gone into effect yesterday.

Next up, the United States, the world’s largest importer, faces a gauntlet of new trade tariff dead-lines that it needs to enforce, postpone, or renegotiate. How US officials handle these could further affect a global economy that’s already being dented by US trade policy.

Deadlines are piling up. In the nearly three years of Trump’s presidency, the US Trade Repre-sentative’s office has rolled out punitive tariffs and shredded

long-standing agreements, rec-alibrating its trading relationships with every one of its top 10 trading partners, based on goods-alone data from 2018.

This war on every front means the USTR hasn’t been able to focus all its resources on the most severe issue - reining in China’s unfair trade practices, some trade experts say.

“Significant problems with international trade have been fes-tering for a long time and it’s true that the US needed to break some-thing,” said Clete Willems, a partner with law firm Akin Gump and former Trump economic advisor. “However, we didn’t need to break it all at the same time and could have been more focused on China from the start,” he added.

Here is a rundown: October 18 - EU Tariffs: As soon as Oct. 18, the United States could start taxing

European goods including Pro-volone cheese and Scotch whisky by 25 percent, after the World Trade Organization ruled it has the right to tax some $7.5bn in goods.

Under the measures Airbus planes assembled in Europe will also be hit with a tariff of 10 percent, putting pressure on the European planemaker to absorb at least part of the cost rather than see deals cancelled, industry sources said. Expect the EU to retaliate, French finance minister Bruno Le Maire (pictured) said earlier this month. “If the American administration rejects the hand that has been held out by France and the European Union, we are preparing ourselves to react with sanctions,” he said..

November 14 - Autos232: A long-running US investigation into whether imported cars and auto

parts pose a national security threat comes to a head on November 14.

That’s the deadline for the Trump administration to decide whether to impose delayed “Section 232” national security tariffs of as much as 25 percent on foreign-made vehicles and parts. The industry says these tariffs would add thousands of dollars to

vehicle costs and potentially lead to hundreds of thousands of job losses throughout the US economy.

November16/17 Apec Summit: Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping will attend the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit in Santiago, Chile, and Trump has suggested they could sign a “Phase 1” trade deal there. But the two sides still need to negotiate a text that puts into writing their under-standings on intellectual property, currency policy, financial services access in China and agricultural purchases. This would require intensive negotiations over the next month to try to finalize a text that may include additional actions on the US side to ease tariffs, or more specific purchase commitments by China.

November USMCA vote: Negotiations for the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement, which

replaces NAFTA, resetting the rules between the United States and its neighbors to the north and south ended in September of 2018. But the US Congress has yet to approve the deal, a requirement for it to go into effect.

Trump, his administration, congressional Republicans and several key business groups have been pressuring House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to take up the measure well before the Thanks-giving holiday on November 28. At the end of November, the bill will compete with a “continuing resolution” budget measure to keep the government funded and running. And after that, the bill could be stuck in legislative limbo as the 2020 US presidential and congressional election campaigns begin to heat up, and an impeachment investigation moves through the House.

PrivatBank wins London appealin lawsuit against former ownersREUTERS LONDON

PrivatBank won an appeal in a London court yesterday that allows Ukraine’s largest lender to pursue claims worth billions of dollars against its former owners.

The case is part of a pro-tracted legal battle between the Ukrainian government and former owners Ihor Kolomoisky and Gennadiy Bogolyubov after PrivatBank was forcibly nation-alised in 2016 as part of a clean-up of the country’s banking system.

PrivatBank’s lawsuit against the former owners alleges fraud that it says cost the bank hundreds of millions of dollars.

The former owners deny any wrongdoing and say the Ukrainian authorities deliberately misrepresented the state of Pri-vatBank’s finances when it was taken into state hands in December 2016.

Kolomoisky did not

immediately respond to a request for comment yesterday.

The London court concluded PrivatBank had a good case to recover $1.9bn, or $3bn including interest, PrivatBank said in a statement.

“This is an important step towards achieving justice for the Bank and the people of Ukraine,” said PrivatBank’s chief executive, Petr Krumphanzl (pictured).

A worldwide asset freeze on the former owners’ assets will

remain in place while the case is heard, PrivatBank said.

The court refused to give the defendants permission to appeal, and required them to file their defence by the end of November, it said. Ukraine’s dollar-denom-inated sovereign bonds moved higher in thin trade, with the 2032 issue up 0.5 cents to reach a 2-1/2 week high at 102.79 cents.

The country’s central bank said in a statement the verdict was good news for Ukraine’s economy and taxpayers.

Ukrainian authorities say a $5.6bn hole had been left in Pri-vatBank’s finances due to lending practices under Kolomoisky’s ownership. Kolomoisky disputes that and has taken legal action in Ukrainian courts seeking to overturn the nationalisation.

“It is very positive for Ukraine that we will see the court case proceed in London, where the judiciary is of a high standard and transparent,” said one fund manager, declining to be named.

“However, we still need to wait and see what the decision in the end will be.” Zelenskiy’s new gov-ernment has been negotiating a new IMF loan programme to replace a $3.9bn standby agreement that expires at the start of January.

But the 41-year-old president has faced scrutiny for his ties to Kolomoisky and repeatedly batted away suggestions he would help Kolomoisky regain control of the bank or win compensation. Ukraine’s deputy central bank governor told Reuters last week that the issue had stalled talks with the IMF, and warned of the “huge danger” to Ukraine if a Ukrainian court overturned the nationalisation.

In a statement in September, the IMF did not mention Pri-vatBank or Kolomoisky but said Ukraine needed to tackle cor-ruption, reduce the influence of oligarchs over the economy and minimise “the cost to taxpayers from bank resolutions.”

Goldman profit falls short on weak underwriting, M&A advisoryREUTERS BENGALURU

Goldman Sachs Group Inc missed Wall Street’s estimates for quarterly profit yesterday as global economic worries dampened appetite for deals and share sales.

Revenue at three of its four major businesses fell, led by a 15 percent drop in investment banking revenue because of lower advisory and underwriting fees.

At the bank’s investing and lending division, where it invests its own balance sheet, net revenue from equity secu-rities fell 40 percent from last year to $662m.

Analysts had estimated that Goldman would book a loss of over $250m from its stake in WeWork in the third quarter. Goldman executives yesterday declined to comment on its stake in the office-sharing startup.

The only bright spot for Goldman was its institutional client services business, which accounts for nearly a third of its overall revenue, but a 6 percent growth at the unit was not enough to offset weakness in its other major businesses.

“Overall, GS posted mixed results this quarter. While the top line beat to us was a pos-itive, it was driven by more trading which tends to be less persistent and investment banking results were weak,” analysts at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods said in a note to clients yesterday.

Bond trading revenue was up 8 percent, while equities rose 5 percent. JPMorgan also reported a surge in bond trading.

Wall Street’s biggest banks are facing several chal-lenges in growing their revenue, largely due to the ongoing US-China trade war and concerns about further interest rate cuts by the US Federal Reserve.

Under Chief Executive Officer David Solomon (pic-tured), Goldman has under-taken a major shift in strategy from its focus on trading to building a bigger consumer business in a bid to shield its revenue from wild swings in financial markets.

Goldman, which recently launched a credit card with Apple, has also attempted to build out new businesses, but top executives at the bank have warned in previous quarters that those efforts will take time to bear fruit.

Solomon has pushed his top lieutenants to bring in at least $5 billion of new revenue from those businesses by 2020.

The bank’s net earnings applicable to common share-holders fell 27 percent to $1.79bn in the quarter ended Sept. 30 from $2.45bn a year ago. Earnings per share fell to $4.79 from $6.28 a year earlier. Total net revenue fell 6 percent to $8.32bn.

Analysts on average had expected earnings of $4.81 per share and revenue of $8.31bn, according to the IBES estimate from Refinitiv.

Expectations from most brokerages tracking the investment bank were gen-erally muted as macroeco-nomic conditions have been weighing on investor sen-timent. Goldman’s main rival Morgan Stanley is expected to report quarterly results on Thursday.

Pound surges as EU’s Barnier fans Brexit deal hopesAFP LONDON

The pound rallied yesterday after the European Union’s top Brexit negotiator flagged the possibility of a divorce agreement this week, reviving hopes that Britain might yet avoid crashing out of the bloc without a deal.

With the exit deadline on October 31, Michel Barnier’s com-ments rekindled hopes that a com-promise might be taking shape.

Ahead of a meeting to update EU countries on negotiations, he told reporters: “This work has been intense all along the

weekend and yesterday because even if the agreement will be dif-ficult -- more and more difficult to be frank -- it’s still possible this week.” Sterling surged 0.7 percent against the dollar to $1.2698, close to levels last seen in July, before easing back slightly. It also firmed against the euro.

The strong pound weighed on London’s FTSE 100 index, however, dragged down by falls to share prices of multinationals earning in dollars.

Before Barnier spoke, the pound had already been rising after Britain’s Daily Telegraph said a divorce agreement was forming,

with EU and British negotiators hailing a positive day of talks on the Northern Ireland issue.

The paper quoted unnamed sources as saying there was “cau-tious optimism”, while the BBC said the EU was considering holding an emergency summit to push through a possible deal. It said there was not enough time to get anything done before a summit set for this week.

The pound had come under pressure on Monday after European officials played down the chances of an agreement that had been aired by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his

Irish counterpart Leo Varadkar last week.

David Kelly at JP Morgan Asset Management said the Johnson-Varadkar talks had sparked a “whirlwind of diplomacy between the British government and the Europeans to try to come up with an agreement this week”.

He added in a note: “While it is by no means certain that the UK and Europe can agree to a deal or that such a deal can make it through the UK parliament, there does appear to be recognition from the British side that any Brexit deal will have to treat Northern Ireland very differently

from the rest of the UK.” On Wall Street the Dow Jones index rose at the start of trading, helping eurozone stock markets hold on to morning gains.

Asian equity markets earlier closed mixed as investor caution returned, replacing the optimism fanned by Donald Trump’s partial China trade deal.

While Friday’s mini-agreement between the world’s economic superpowers put off fresh tariffs and saw them reach common ground on some issues, observers pointed out it was light on detail and left other major levies in place.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in delivers his speech during a ceremony declaring the country’s vision to lead future mobility tech at Hyundai Motor’s Namyang R&D Center in Hwaseong, South Korea, yesterday.

Canada’s real estate market is in full recovery modeBLOOMBERG/OTTAWA

Canada’s realtors produced another strong month of sales and prices in September, with gains in most major markets in a sign of strength for the nation’s housing market.

The number of units sold rose 0.6 percent last month, extending a recent jump in activity that have seen trans-actions jump 16 percent from a year ago, the Canadian Real Estate Association said yes-terday. Benchmark home prices rose 0.5 percent in September, and are up 2.3 percent over the past four months. Markets in British Columbia led gains in both sales and prices last month, with the country’s oil-pro-ducing regions the only ones showing any weakness.

The report is in line with other recent indicators that suggest housing has fully recovered from a slump earlier this year, helped by falling mortgage rates. The run of robust housing data gives the Bank of Canada another reason – along with strong job gains – to hold interest rates steady, even as counterparts around the world tilt toward easing policy.

“Home sales activity and prices are improving after having weakened signifi-cantly in a number of housing markets,” Gregory Klump, chief economist at the Ottawa-based realtor group, said in a statement.

06 WEDNESDAY 16 OCTOBER 2019BUSINESS

QATAR STOCK EXCHANGE

America’s ‘green economy’ is now worth $1.4trnBLOOMBERG NEW YORK

If the US wants to extend economic growth, it should double down on cleaning up the environment and fighting climate change, which are fueling both jobs and revenue, according to a new analysis by University College London researchers.

“Don’t listen to the political rhetoric,” said Mark Maslin, a professor of geography and one of the authors behind the study published Tuesday. “Just look at the data and be hard-nosed about it, and say, ‘Okay, if we’re going to support the economy and make it grow and have lots of employment, this is where I need to invest.’”

For years, there’s been a major technical difficulty with charting progress in the “green economy:” the US doesn’t measure it. Part of the blame lies with Congress, which as part of 2013 budget cuts eliminated funding for data-collection on “green goods and services.”

Ever since, analysts have tried (with increasingly thinner results) to read trends from aging data or invent new ways to measure green industries. Others have focused on the rise in clean-energy-related jobs put out by the US Department of Energy or state sources, but those fail to

provide the whole picture.That’s why Maslin and lead

author Lucien Georgeson accu-mulated their own data on the US green economy, drawing on hundreds of often private data-bases containing granular, real-world business and transaction statistics. They concluded that almost 9.5 million Americans, or about 4 percent of the work-force, are employed in a “green economy” that generates $1.4trillion in annual revenue, or about 7 percent of US annual GDP.

That’s about 16.5 percent of the green economy worldwide, according to the analysis pub-lished in Palgrave Communica-tions. The numbers rose more than 20 percent over the 2013-2016 fiscal years, led by the renewable energy sector. Growth was also seen in already estab-lished environmental businesses, including air pollution, recycling and waste management, land remediation and water treatment.

What the analysis calls “low-carbon” sectors-including electric vehicles, energy effi-ciency, and green finance-are making an up-and-coming con-tribution as well.

The US is ahead of China and other nations, but its lead may not last as other nations align national and state-level policies with green growth.

Industrial earnings take centre stage in Q3 with trade, economy in focusREUTERS NEW YORK

Profit reports from big manufac-turers and other industrial firms arriving this week will provide investors with a crucial corporate gauge of the US econ-omy’s health and the fallout from trade tensions between Wash-ington and Beijing.

Third-quarter industrial sector earnings follow a closely watched survey earlier this month that showed US manufacturing activity tumbled to a more than 10-year low in September. Industrial com-panies also are among those most at risk from the lingering trade dispute between the United States and China.

“This third quarter earnings season is going to be really important for industrials,” said Chuck Carlson, chief executive officer at Horizon Investment Services in Hammond, Indiana.

“The industrial sector is really going to be watched closely for signs the overall economy is really slipping, and slipping enough to matter to stocks,” Carlson said.

While the industrial sector represents slightly less than 10 percent of the overall S&P 500 stock index, it can provide an outsized perspective on the

economy. It includes major multi-national manufacturers as well as transportation companies whose results offer a barometer of economic activity.

The industrial stock sector has climbed over 19 percent this year, slightly ahead of the 18.5 percent gain for the overall S&P 500. But while the broader market has hit all-time highs this year, the industrial sector has yet to breach its record peak from early 2018 and currently trades about 5 percent below it.

Third-quarter earnings overall for industrial companies are expected to rise by just 0.7 percent from a year earlier, according to IBES data from Ref-initiv. That would represent a better performance than for the full S&P 500, for which earnings are expected to fall by 3.2

percent. Profit declines are expected for the tech, energy and materials sectors, while com-panies overall are facing tough comparisons with results from a year ago, when they benefited from a big corporate tax cut.

Investors will also be keenly watching for financial forecasts for the fourth quarter and next year.

Expectations for a sharp increase in overall earnings next year rests in part on the economy avoiding a recession, said Omar Aguilar, chief investment officer of equities and multi-asset strat-egies at Charles Schwab Investment Management in San Francisco.

For industrial companies, Aguilar said, a critical factor is whether they ramp up capital spending, which could depend

on US-China trade tensions yielding a clearer picture of the business environment.

US and Chinese officials cul-minated talks in Washington last week with US President Donald Trump outlining the first phase of a deal to end their trade war, including suspending a threatened tariff hike.

Carol Schleif (pictured), deputy chief investment officer with Abbot Downing in Minne-apolis, said that Friday’s devel-opments show some movement in the US-China trade tensions, but uncertainty remains for companies.

As the industrial companies hold their quarterly conference calls, Schleif said she will be lis-tening for commentary about the impact that has already been felt from the trade war, including whether companies have pulled shipments in to get ahead of tariffs, or if have they deferred capital spending or employment.

“Companies are being forced to reassess their supply chains, and that takes time. To the extent companies are making progress on diversifying that, it might lead to a muddy couple of quarters,” Schleif said. “You have a lot of pieces at play that make it tough to be an industrial company right now.”

Third-quarter industrial sector earnings follow a closely watched survey earlier this month that showed US manufacturing activity tumbled to a more than 10-year low in September.

QE Index 10,430.42 0.25 %

QE Total Return Index 19,192.86 0.25 %

QE Al Rayan Islamic

Index - Price 2,347.53 0.17 %

QE Al Rayan Islamic Index 3,997.13 0.17 %

QE All Share Index 3,073.22 0.32 %

QE All Share Banks &

Financial Services 4,068.14 0.54 %

QE All Share Industrials 3,076.79 0.21 %

QE All Share Transportation 2,641.83 1.92 %

QE All Share Real Estate 1,482.74 0.97 %

QE All Share Insurance 2,862.43 0.39 %

QE All Share Telecoms 945.23 1.22 %

QE All Share Consumer

Goods & Services 8,572.41 0.16 %

QE INDICES SUMMARY QE MARKET SUMMARY COMPARISON WORLD STOCK INDICES

GOLD AND SILVER

15-10-2019Index 10,430.42

Change 26.3

% 0.25

YTD% 1.28

Volume 64,607,813

Value (QAR) 277,700,806.40

Trades 4,470

Up 21 | Down 18 | Unchanged 714-10-2019Index 10,404.12

Change 119.51

% 1.16

YTD% 1.02

Volume 101,231,941

Value (QAR) 329,518,520.62

Trades 6,250

EXCHANGE RATE

GOLD QR175.2697 grammeSILVER QR2.0669 per gramme

Index Day’s Close Pt Chg % Chg Year High Year Low

All Ordinaries 6763.3 5.4 0.08 6958.7 5620.3

CAC 40 Index/D 5670.94 27.86 0.49 5704.93 4606.2

Dj Indu Averg/D 26787.36 -29.23 -0.11 27398.68 21712.53

Hang Seng Inde/D 26503.93 -17.92 -0.07 30280.12 24896.87

ISEQ Overall/D 6527.56 82.96 1.29 6551.95 5390.58

KSE 100 Inx/D 34083.53 -102.73 -0.3 #N/A #N/A

S&P 500 Index/D 0 0 0 3027.98 2443.96

Currency Buying (QAR) Selling (QAR)US$ 3.6305 3.6500

Pound Sterlig 4.5731 4.6378

Swiss Frnac 3.6294 3.6803

Japanese yen 0.03332 0.03397

Australian Dollar 2.4378 2.4862

Canadian Dollar 2.7291 2.7828

Indian Rupee 0.0505 0.0515

Pakistan Rupee 0.023 0.0236

Philipine Peso 0.0699 0.0713

Bangala Takka 0.0426 0.0435

Sri lanka Rupee 0.0198 0.0203

Nepalese Rupee 0.0315 0.0322

South African Rand 0.2428 0.2476

Euro 3.9845 4.041