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SIMAH, BENEFIT Launch Credit Information Exchange Project

The project aims to enhance transparency in financial transactions
The project aims to enhance transparency in financial transactions
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SIMAH, BENEFIT Launch Credit Information Exchange Project

The project aims to enhance transparency in financial transactions
The project aims to enhance transparency in financial transactions

Saudi Arabia and Bahrain have launched the technical linking process of the credit information exchange project between banking institutions operating in the two countries.

The Bahrain Electronic Network for Financial Transactions (BENEFIT) and the Saudi Credit Bureau (SIMAH) revealed on Sunday that this step comes in implementation of the Gulf Cooperation Council’s Supreme Council decision issued at it 37th session in 2016.

The decision stipulates approving to exchange credit information in accordance with the work plan and the comprehensive framework and the mechanism for facilitating the exchange of credit information among the GCC member states.

The project aims to enhance transparency in financial transactions in the Gulf and provide financial tools that contribute to reducing credit risks associated with any financial transaction for any economic activity, in a way that promotes the growth of these activities.

Saudi Central Bank Governor Fahad al-Mubarak said this step comes in line with objectives of the Kingdom Vision 2030’s Financial Sector Development Program, which targets launching strategic projects that enhance cooperation frameworks among GCC states, offer greater investment opportunities and ensure their stability and economic growth.

Mubarak explained that the financial sector relies on such strategic projects to achieve GCC states’ common goals.

Bahrain’s Central Bank Governor Rasheed al-Maraj, for his part, said the initiative is an implementation of both governments’ visions and directives and the future role in developing and enhancing banking transactions.

The project provides decision-making support processes for commercial relations and partnerships in accordance with an advanced system of information and audited data provided by the authorities concerned with credit information reports, which enhances confidence and transparency and provides broader areas of mutual commercial work.

This step maximizes the role of the credit information industry and is considered a key force to tighten the grip of control and supervision, increase levels of transparency and contribute to supporting the stability of the financial sector of the GCC states.

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Business

Chevron Eyes Argentina, Mediterranean for Global LNG Growth, Deal with India

Freeman Shaheen, the president of Chevron Global Gas, participates in a discussion at the Gastech conference in Houston, Texas, US, September 18, 2024. REUTERS/Callaghan O'Hare
Freeman Shaheen, the president of Chevron Global Gas, participates in a discussion at the Gastech conference in Houston, Texas, US, September 18, 2024. REUTERS/Callaghan O'Hare
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Chevron Eyes Argentina, Mediterranean for Global LNG Growth, Deal with India

Freeman Shaheen, the president of Chevron Global Gas, participates in a discussion at the Gastech conference in Houston, Texas, US, September 18, 2024. REUTERS/Callaghan O'Hare
Freeman Shaheen, the president of Chevron Global Gas, participates in a discussion at the Gastech conference in Houston, Texas, US, September 18, 2024. REUTERS/Callaghan O'Hare

Chevron is looking to expand its global gas portfolio from Argentina to the Mediterranean to meet growing demand from buyers concerned about energy security due to the crisis in the Middle East, President of Global Gas Freeman Shaheen said.

Global gas markets have experienced two major disruptions in the past four years as the Ukraine war in 2022 and the Iran conflict this year cut off supplies from top producers Russia and Qatar and drove liquefied natural gas prices higher.

"What we're seeing from this crisis is that it just reinforces the need for diversity — diversity of supply and diversity of different contracting structures," Shaheen said, adding, "and not leaving yourselves susceptible to a spot market that's not really as liquid ⁠as crude and ⁠products."

Chevron will have about 20 million metric tons per annum of LNG supply capacity comprising 16 million tons of net gas production from its projects and 4 million tons contracted from the US Gulf Coast that commenced in February this year and will ramp up over the next few years in line with agreements.

"We're looking to continue to expand that portfolio," Shaheen said in an interview on the sidelines of the Gastech conference in Bangkok.

"There's great prospects out of ⁠Argentina with the development of crude and gas in that marketplace. The East Mediterranean is a very exciting area for us as well."

He also sees further opportunities in Australia and Africa, provided the projects offer the right capital, fiscal and regulatory terms, adding that the US-Iran war has reinforced the need for a diversified gas portfolio.

Shaheen did not elaborate on where in Africa, Australia or the eastern Mediterranean the company might expand. In June, Chevron won approval to become operator and lead gas exploration in an offshore block off Greece, expanding its presence there.

However, these opportunities have to be weighed against Venezuela, where Chevron and its partners would invest more than $7 billion to more than double oil output by 2031.

"I've been hearing that ⁠Venezuela has a lot ⁠of capital that's going to have to go that way coming up," Shaheen told Reuters.

"Everything is going to get analyzed in our project queue and it gets ranked."

Chevron already has significant operations in Australia, running the country's largest LNG project, Gorgon, and the Wheatstone project. A large portion of its Australian supply goes to Japan.

"Japan continues to be our home base, and we have nice structural opportunities into Singapore," Shaheen said, adding that China and Korea remain attractive markets.

In Singapore, Chevron inked a deal in 2024 to supply Sembcorp Industries up to 0.6 million tons per annum of LNG from 2028.

LNG buyers are also changing the way they secure supply, he said, with state-backed importers increasingly willing to sign contracts with portfolio suppliers rather than relying on government-to-government arrangements.

"I'd love to have a deal in India. It's just they're very, very headline-price driven," Shaheen said. "I think India is still evolving. There's going to be great opportunities over time."

Business

Maersk, Hapag-Lloyd Resume Further Services Through Suez Canal

FILE PHOTO: Shipping containers sit on a Maersk vessel docked at the port of Los Angeles in Long Beach, California, US, March 10, 2026. REUTERS/Caroline Brehman/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Shipping containers sit on a Maersk vessel docked at the port of Los Angeles in Long Beach, California, US, March 10, 2026. REUTERS/Caroline Brehman/File Photo
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Maersk, Hapag-Lloyd Resume Further Services Through Suez Canal

FILE PHOTO: Shipping containers sit on a Maersk vessel docked at the port of Los Angeles in Long Beach, California, US, March 10, 2026. REUTERS/Caroline Brehman/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Shipping containers sit on a Maersk vessel docked at the port of Los Angeles in Long Beach, California, US, March 10, 2026. REUTERS/Caroline Brehman/File Photo

Shipping group Maersk said on Monday it will resume four further of its container services with Germany's Hapag-Lloyd through the Suez Canal, as they gradually ⁠return to using the ⁠shortcut between Asia and Europe.

The Asia-Europe trade corridor through the Suez Canal was abandoned ⁠by most shippers earlier this decade after attacks in the Red Sea by Yemen's Houthis, forcing ships to take the much longer trip around Africa's Cape of Good Hope.

The two ⁠companies ⁠in early July and later again in August announced that they would resume some services connecting Asia, the Mediterranean and Europe through the Suez Canal.

Business

Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Expect September Fed Hike as Inflation Lingers

Federal Reserve building in Washington (Reuters)
Federal Reserve building in Washington (Reuters)
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Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Expect September Fed Hike as Inflation Lingers

Federal Reserve building in Washington (Reuters)
Federal Reserve building in Washington (Reuters)

Goldman Sachs and J.P. Morgan now expect the US Federal Reserve to raise interest rates this week after a string of stronger-than-expected inflation readings challenged hopes that price pressures would continue to ease without additional policy tightening.

The Wall Street banks joined a growing number of forecasters turning more hawkish after data last week showed ‌US consumer ‌and producer prices rose more than expected in August, ‌while ⁠oil prices climbed ⁠above $100 a barrel due to renewed hostilities in the Middle East, reported Reuters.

In a note on Friday, Goldman Sachs abandoned its previous call for rates to remain unchanged and now expects a 25-basis-point increase at the US Fed's September 15-16 meeting. J.P. Morgan, meanwhile, forecasts quarter-point hikes in both September and December.

The latest data have revived concerns that progress toward the Fed's ⁠2% inflation target could stall after months of moderation.

"We ‌think that the FOMC will be ‌reluctant to surprise," Goldman Sachs economist David Mericle said.

J.P. Morgan struck a similarly ‌hawkish tone following the inflation reports.

"The week that saw rising ‌bond yields and energy prices and a firm enough set of inflation readings to make a rate hike at next week's FOMC meeting more likely than not," J.P. Morgan economists led by Michael Feroli said in a note.

The outlook ‌for further Fed tightening will be in focus this week as policymakers conclude their meeting on Wednesday, ⁠while investors ⁠also watch the Bank of Japan for policy signals.

J.P. Morgan said the latest inflation data cast doubt on a sustained disinflation trend, leading it to forecast another Fed rate hike this year and raise its estimate of the long-run policy rate to 3.25%.

Markets are pricing in an 87% chance of a quarter-point Fed rate hike this month, up from about 70% before the latest inflation data, with another increase expected in December, according to CME's FedWatch Tool.

In a separate note on Sunday, Goldman Sachs said it still expects two Fed rate cuts in 2027, though later than previously forecast, as it sees this week's expected hike as driven more by market pricing than inflation fundamentals.