Search Results for: Lebanon

IT has been a tough year for the fragrance industry in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), where competition between international and local brands has intensified, while consumer spending has been weakening. But this has not stopped perfumiers from launching new products nor has it prevented overseas suppliers from expanding their local presence.…

Terrorist financing is continuing in the Middle East, highlighted by the devastating attack in Istanbul over the new year. Radical Islamic groups still operate in Iraq and Syria, notably the Islamic State and the Levant, or ISIL (also known as ISIS), and the source of funding for these terrorist groups is a contentious issue.…

The Syria conflict is into its sixth year, as are the multilateral sanctions imposed on the government in Damascus. How effective have the sanctions been, given the Syrian regime’s survival? And where may have funds from members of the regime, and those linked to it, gone?…

Arab Gulf governments are repeatedly accused of aiding terrorist financing on and, more often, off the record. Calls to get tough on these states have been sidelined by political and economic expediency, while Gulf moves to curb terrorist financing have been lacklustre and there may be risks ahead, reports Paul Cochrane, in Beirut.…

A public forum on how universities help promote transformative leadership by women has highlighted the difficulty of framing policies that simultaneously encourage personal development and directly assist women in securing equal opportunities. This discussion comes at a time when women outnumber men in university enrolment globally, but continue to trail men in leadership positions in government, research, and the formal economy.…

Tunisia’s financial and political situation is shaky by any measure but the installation of a new national unity government under Prime Minister Youssef Chahed in August does offer some grains of comfort for anti-money laundering (AML) professionals. Chahed, a university professor and agricultural science expert, told the Tunisian parliament this summer that his priorities were defeating terrorism, stimulating  economic growth and fighting corruption as well as strengthening the country’s democratic system.…

The Philippines has been standing accused of passively aiding money launderers and terrorist financers ever since its Anti-Money Laundering Act in 2001 exempted local casinos from the duty of submitting suspicious transaction reports on their operations.. But pressures to revise that decision have been growing markedly since earlier this year Chinese cyber hackers managed to launder USD81 million through banks and casinos in Manila, with only approximately USD6 million of the booty recovered so far.…

WITH 4.8 million Syrian refugees registered by the UN, and many more displaced without registration, their impact on consumer markets outside their home country has been significant. The tobacco sector has been no exception. Indeed, even before the civil war, Syrians were keen smokers – with 2004 Syrian Centre for Tobacco Studies research indicating that 56.9% of men smoked cigarettes and 17% of women; 20.2% of men smoked waterpipes (shisha) and 4.8% of women; 29% smoked daily – 51.4% of men and 11.5% of women).…

MEAT suppliers in Lebanon are anticipating significantly increased sales as Ramadan winds up this week. Hovig Kozobiokian, managing partner of Dekerco, a meat and food importer in Beirut. He estimated demand increases by around 50% to 60% for round cuts during Ramadan, with often a spike in demand in the last week for the Eid El-Fitr festival that ends this holy month.…

A SWEEPING review of Australia’s Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act 2006, published in April 2016, has made more than 80 recommendations to tighten and extend the scope of this key piece of legislation. Among these are proposals to streamline due diligence obligations on the part of reporting entities while reinforcing auditing procedures, increasing the scope of the legislation to cover more professional categories and types of transactions and increasing surveillance particularly in the remittance sector.…