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Saudi-UK fintech platform to upskill youth, provide Pakistani expats access to Kingdom’s capital markets

An undated file photo shows a general view of ANB Capital premises in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. (Photo courtesy: social media)
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Updated 11 September 2023
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Saudi-UK fintech platform to upskill youth, provide Pakistani expats access to Kingdom’s capital markets

  • KTrade Saudi will also offer advisory services to Saudi investors looking at Pakistan and Pakistani companies who want to expand to Saudi Arabia
  • KTrade is facilitating IPO of one of the biggest edible oil manufacturers, Soya Supreme, which is expected by the end of current year
Updated 11 September 2023
KHURSHID AHMED   

KARACHI: Riyadh-based company, anb capital, and the UK’s Oxford Frontier Capital (OFC) have signed an agreement to launch a multinational financial technology platform, KTrade, to educate the Saudi youth and provide Pakistani expatriates access to Saudi capital markets, a top official of the fintech initiative said on Sunday.

The anb capital, a Saudi capital market institution regulated by the Kingdom’s Capital Market Authority, is offering investment management, investment advisory, brokerage and related products and services to customers. KTrade Pakistan is majority-owned by the OFC while forty percent of it is owned by the Khadim Ali Shah Bukhari (KASB) a prominent business family in Pakistan.

The KTrade app, prior to entering the UK, was launched in Pakistan in 2021. With over 1 million downloads, KTrade Pakistan is currently one of the most downloaded stock investment applications in the South Asian country.

 The agreement between the Saudi and British capital advisory firms will help educate the Saudi youth on Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) investing and financial concepts, according to Ali Fareed Khwaja, the OFC chief excutive officer and chairman of KTrade Pakistan. The team in Pakistan will operate the Saudi business in terms of technology, marketing and research functions.

“Besides the fintech app (KTrade) with anb capital, we will provide the 2.7 million Pakistani diaspora access to the Saudi capital markets and advisory services to Saudi investors looking at Pakistan and Pakistani companies who want to expand to Saudi Arabia,” Khwaja told Arab News on Sunday.

KTrade’s stated aim is to promote financial literacy in Saudi Arabia, which is one of the objectives of the Financial Sector Development Program (FSDP) under Vision 2030 to create a thriving economy, according to the platform.  

KTrade Saudi will offer a “gamified experience” in investment management, wherein users will participate in investment courses, earn online certifications and manage simulated investment portfolios.

“Vision 2030 is a catalyst for a renaissance in not just Saudi Arabia but in the entire region. Saudi Arabia is the region’s North Star. KTrade aims to support Vision 2030 goals of enhancing the savings rate, developing the capital markets and promoting sustainability,” Khwaja said in a statement posted on anb capital website last week.

“They are optimistic, energetic, happy and eager to learn and lead. We are delighted to be a part of this historic transformation and honored to have anb capital as our partner in our mission.”

Khalid S. Al-Ghamdi, CEO of anb capital, expressed his optimism that the partnership with OFC would not only bring new and exciting investment opportunities to the Kingdom’s investment community, but it would also ensure that these opportunities contribute to the fulfillment of the national agenda.

“For us, KTrade isn’t just a platform; it’s empowerment, inclusion, and a symbol of our social responsibility as a corporate citizen,” Al-Ghamdi said.

“We firmly believe in the potential of our talented youth and their ability to shape the future of the Saudi capital markets. Our role is to help break down barriers and make financial literacy accessible to everyone, confident that together, we will illuminate the path to a brighter Saudi future.”

In Pakistan, KTrade has been authorized by Soya Supreme, one of the largest cooking oil processors in the South Asian nation, to initiate an initial public offering (IPO) of the company at the Pakistan Stock Exchange.  

The cooking oil manufacturer plans to expand its business to the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.  

“KTrade is doing the IPO of Soya Supreme in Pakistan and we will pitch it to Saudi investors as well,” Khwaja said. “We will also seek potential strategic investors from the Middle East in general and from Saudi Arabia in particular.”

KTrade officials said the process of Soya Supreme IPO was currently in initial stages and expected to be completed by the end of this year.  

“The due diligence, valuation and the reference price of the company would be worked out before formally applying for IPO,” Nadia Ishtiaq, head of investment banking at KTrade who has been leading the Soya Supreme IPO process, told Arab News.

Ishtiaq hoped the IPO would be ready by December this year and the amount raised would be utilized for expansion.

Topics: Pakistan Saudi Arabia Riyadh

Pakistan farmers announce nationwide protest from May 10 amid wheat import crisis

Updated 05 May 2024
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Pakistan farmers announce nationwide protest from May 10 amid wheat import crisis

  • Farmers are demanding the government stop wheat imports that have flooded markets, leading to price slump
  • Agriculture contributes about 24 percent of the GDP and accounts for half of the employed labor force in Pakistan
Updated 05 May 2024
KASHIF IMRAN

ISLAMABAD: Pakistani farmers on Sunday announced a nationwide protest over the wheat import crisis from May 10, a day after Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif promised to address their grievances.
Farmers in Pakistan’s Punjab province, which produces most of the wheat crop, are demanding the government stop wheat imports that have flooded the market at a time when they expect bumper crop.
They say the import of wheat in the second half of 2023 and the first three months of this year has resulted in excess amounts of the commodity in the country, leading to reduced prices.
On Saturday, PM Sharif took notice of the matter and formed a committee under the Ministry of National Food Security and Research to address farmer grievances, Pakistani state media reported.
“On the 10th [of May], after the Friday prayers, we are initiating protest from Multan and this protest will be expanded to the whole of Pakistan,” Khalid Khokhar, who heads the Kissan Ittehad Pakistan, said at a press conference.
“Thousands of farmers will come, there will be hundreds of tractors, trailers. Animals, cattle and children and women will also be accompanied.”
Agriculture is the backbone of Pakistan’s economy and constitutes its largest sector. According to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS), agriculture contributes about 24 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and accounts for half of the employed labor force in the country.
However, the prices of wheat have dropped in Pakistan in recent weeks and are much below the government’s support price of Rs3,900 per 40-kilogram bag.
“We do not have any option other than this. The mafia made Rs100 billion, Pakistan’s $1 billion worth of foreign exchange was spent and the farmers incurred around Rs400 billion losses,” Khokhar said.
“They slaughtered 60 million farmers just for the sake of corruption.”

Topics: Pakistan wheat Pakistan Wheat Scandal Pakistan farmers

Pakistan’s Dr. Shahzad Baig makes it to TIME’s 100 world leaders in health

Updated 05 May 2024
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Pakistan’s Dr. Shahzad Baig makes it to TIME’s 100 world leaders in health

  • Before arriving in Pakistan, Baig was a technical adviser to Nigeria’s polio eradication effort, which remained successful
  • Pakistan, Afghanistan are only two countries in world where polio continues to threaten health and well-being of children
Updated 05 May 2024
Arab News Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: US news magazine TIME has included Dr. Shahzad Baig, the Pakistan Polio Eradication Programme’s national coordinator, to its list of 100 most influential people across the world in the field of health in 2024.
The list, titled ‘TIME100 HEALTH,’ this week honored individuals from across the world for their services for fresh discoveries, novel treatments, and global victories over disease.
Baig was recognized for his efforts for the eradication of poliovirus, which mainly affects children under the age of ten years by invading their nervous system, and can cause paralysis or even death.
Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only two countries in the world where polio continues to threaten the health and well-being of children. 
“On the front lines in the effort to stamp it [polio] out is Dr. Shahzad Baig, national coordinator of Pakistan’s polio-eradication program,” TIME wrote on its website.
“In 2019, polio disabled or killed 147 people in Pakistan; since Baig assumed the position, in 2021, case counts have plummeted, with only six children stricken in 2023.”
Before arriving in Pakistan, Baig was a technical adviser to Nigeria’s polio eradication effort, which succeeded spectacularly, according to the US magazine.
In 2020, the African country became the most recent one in the world to be declared polio-free.
“If Baig has his way, Pakistan will be the next,” it added.

Topics: Time 100 Health Pakistan Polio Service Dr. Shahzad Baig polio eradication

Canada has ‘political compulsion’ to blame India for Sikh slaying — New Delhi

Updated 05 May 2024
AFP
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Canada has ‘political compulsion’ to blame India for Sikh slaying — New Delhi

  • Canadian police on Friday arrested three for the murder of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, saying they were investigating their links to Indian government
  • The killing soured Ottawa-New Delhi diplomatic ties after PM Trudeau said there were ‘credible allegations’ linking Indian intelligence to crime
Updated 05 May 2024
AFP

NEW DELHI: Canada’s investigation into alleged Indian involvement in the assassination of a Sikh separatist in Vancouver last year is a “political compulsion,” New Delhi’s foreign minister said after three Indian citizens were arrested over the killing.
Canadian police on Friday arrested the trio for the murder of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, saying they were investigating their links to the Indian government, “if any.”
The killing sent diplomatic relations between Ottawa and New Delhi into a tailspin last autumn after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said there were “credible allegations” linking Indian intelligence to the crime.
India vehemently rejected the allegations as “absurd,” halting the processing of visas for a time and forcing Canada to significantly reduce its diplomatic presence in the country.
“It is their political compulsion in Canada to blame India,” the Press Trust of India news agency quoted external affairs minister S. Jaishankar as saying on Saturday.
Thousands of people were killed in the 1980s during a separatist insurgency aimed at creating a Sikh homeland known as Khalistan, which was put down by security forces.
The movement has largely petered out within India, but in the Sikh diaspora — whose largest community is in Canada, with around 770,000 people — it retains support among a vocal minority.
New Delhi has sought to persuade Ottawa not to grant Sikh separatists visas or political legitimacy, Jaishankar said, since they are “causing problems for them (Canada), for us and also for our relationship.”
He added that Canada does not “share any evidence with us in certain cases, police agencies also do not cooperate with us.”
Nijjar immigrated to Canada in 1997 and acquired citizenship 18 years later. He was wanted by Indian authorities for alleged terrorism and conspiracy to commit murder.
The three arrested Indian nationals, all in their twenties, were charged with first degree murder and conspiracy.
They were accused of being the shooter, driver and lookout in his killing last June.
The Canadian police said they were aware that “others may have played a role” in the murder.
In November, the US Justice Department charged an Indian citizen living in the Czech Republic with plotting a similar assassination attempt on another Sikh separatist leader on American soil.
A Washington Post investigation reported last week that Indian foreign intelligence officials were involved in the plot, a claim rejected by New Delhi.

Topics: Canada India tensions India Canada relations Khalistan movement

PCB chief announces $100,000 reward for each player if Pakistan wins T20 World Cup

Updated 05 May 2024
Shahjahan Khurram 
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PCB chief announces $100,000 reward for each player if Pakistan wins T20 World Cup

  • Mohsin Naqvi made the announcement during his visit to Qaddafi Stadium, where the Babar Azam-led side has been practicing
  • The Pakistan side is scheduled to travel to Ireland, England for T20 tours later this month, followed by the World Cup in June
Updated 05 May 2024
Shahjahan Khurram 

ISLAMABAD: Mohsin Naqvi, chief of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), has announced $100,000 reward for each player in case the national side wins the upcoming Twenty20 World Cup, the PCB said on Sunday.
Naqvi made the announcement during his visit to the Qaddafi Stadium in Lahore, where the Babar Azam-led side began the national camp on Saturday, according to the PCB.
He stayed there for two hours and held a detailed discussion with Pakistan players on the strategy of upcoming games.
“This reward is nothing compared to Pakistan’s victory,” Naqvi was quoted as saying.
“I hope you will raise the green flag. Play without any pressure and compete hard. God willing, victory will be yours.”
The Pakistan side is scheduled to travel to Ireland and England for T20 tours later this month.
The tours will help the side prepare for the T20 World Cup scheduled to be held in the United States and the West Indies in June.

Topics: Pakistan Cricket Board Mohsin Naqvi Pakistan cricket team

IMF says its mission will visit Pakistan this month to discuss new loan

Updated 05 May 2024
Reuters
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IMF says its mission will visit Pakistan this month to discuss new loan

  • Pakistan last month completed a short-term $3 billion program, which helped stave off sovereign default
  • But the government of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has stressed the need for a fresh, longer-term program
Updated 05 May 2024
Reuters

KARACHI: An International Monetary Fund mission is expected to visit Pakistan this month to discuss a new program, the lender said on Sunday ahead of Islamabad beginning its annual budget-making process for the next financial year.
Pakistan last month completed a short-term $3 billion program, which helped stave off sovereign default, but the government of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has stressed the need for a fresh, longer-term program.
“A mission is expected to visit Pakistan in May to discuss the FY25 budget, policies, and reforms under a potential new program for the welfare of all Pakistanis,” the IMF said in an emailed response to Reuters.
Pakistan’s financial year runs from July to June and its budget for fiscal year 2025, the first by Sharif’s new government, has to be presented before June 30.
The IMF did not specify the dates of the visit, nor the size or duration of the program.
“Accelerating reforms now is more important than the size of the program, which will be guided by the package of reform and balance of payments needs,” the IMF statement said.
Pakistan narrowly averted default last summer, and its $350 billion economy has stabilized after the completion of the last IMF program, with inflation coming down to around 17 percent in April from a record high 38 percent last May.
It is still dealing with a high fiscal shortfall and while it has controlled its external account deficit through import control mechanisms, it has come at the expense of stagnating growth, which is expected to be around 2 percent this year compared to negative growth last year.
Earlier, in an interview with Reuters, Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb said the country hoped to agree the contours of a new IMF loan in May.
Pakistan is expected to seek at least $6 billion and request additional financing from the Fund under the Resilience and Sustainability Trust.

Topics: Pakistan IMF talk IMF bailout

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