Bank of America Mena head resigns

Bank of America-Merrill Lynch's Middle East and North Africa (Mena) investment banking head, Waleed Al Amir, has resigned, a source familiar with the matter said yesterday, the latest top banker to leave the US lender. Al Amir, a veteran Merrill Lynch banker, has been with the bank for 16 years and has been leading the bank's regional investment banking operations from Dubai since 2008. A spokeswoman for the bank was not immediately available for comment. The source declined to be identified as the matter has not been made public. Bank of America's investment banking and capital markets group, which is led by co-chief operating officer Tom Montag, has seen upheaval in its upper ranks recently. Key executives such as European dealmaker Andrea Orcel and corporate and investment banking chairman Michael Rubinoff have departed for other jobs in recent months, leaving few Merrill veterans in top positions. Last week, the bank hired Alex Wilmot-Sitwell from UBS as president of Europe and emerging markets, excluding Asia. Advanced Petrochemicals Co of Saudi Arabia and Turkish partner Bayegan will build a $1 billion (Dh3. 67 million) polypropylene plant in Adana, Iskenderun province in southern Turkey, state-run Anatolia news agency reported yesterday. Jordan's Housing Bank for Trade and Finance, the country's second lender, reported yesterday a weaker-than-expected 4.7 per cent rise in first quarter net profit after it set aside higher provisions than required by the Central Bank. Chairman Michel Marto said gross income rose 30 per cent to 88 million dinars (Dh456 million) at the end of March compared with the same period last year, in a statement to the bourse. Quarterly net profit rose less than the bank had expected from the year-earlier period to 24.4 million dinars. The bank did not say why it set aside more provisions. "I expect better results in the coming periods of the year," he said. Figures show assets stood at 6.67 billion dinars at the end of March, a 3.7 per cent drop from the end of 2011. A sluggish economy also contributed to a 3.3 per cent drop in customer deposits to 4.67 billion dinars. Turkiye Garanti Bankasi, Turkey's biggest bank by market value, got a one-year syndicated loan of €768.1 million (Dh3.7 billion) and $307.3 million (Dh1.1 billion). Total cost on the loan was 145 basis points over international benchmarks, Garanti said in a statement to the Istanbul Stock Exchange yesterday. The agreement for the loan was signed with 48 banks from 20 countries yesterday, it said. Citadel Capital, an Egyptian private equity firm, said its 2011 loss was 800.5 million Egyptian pounds (487 million) compared with a 1.36 billion pound loss a year earlier. Qatar International Pet-roleum Marketing Co, or Tasweeq, is offering up to 420,000 tonnes of jet fuel and petrol for its July-December term contract, according to tender documents released yesterday. It also offered a total of 300,000-360,000 tonnes of gas-to-liquids (GTL) for July 2012 to June 2013 lifting from Ras Laffan. This works out to 25,000-30,000 tonnes of naphtha a month during the term period. It had previously sold 30,000 tonnes of GTL naphtha for late May lifting to South Korea's YNCC at premiums below $37.00 (Dh136) a tonne to Middle East quotes on a free-on-board (FOB) basis. Naphtha spot premiums had been firm due to tight supplies but buyers expected Europe to push out high volumes of naphtha as it was hit by weaker demand but higher supplies as refineries returned from planned maintenance. Tasweeq offered 240,000 tonnes of jet fuel for loading from Ras Laffan and between 150,000 and 180,000 tonnes of 97-octane petrol to be loaded from Mesaieed. National Societe Generale Bank (NSGB), Egypt's second-biggest private bank by market capitalisation, said yesterday first quarter net income for 2012 was 350 million Egyptian pounds (Dh212.7 million), down 4 per cent on a year earlier.