Latest news with #Bahrain
Motor 1
9 hours ago
- Automotive
- Motor 1
Longtime Ferrari Boss Might Be Working for McLaren
Luca Cordero di Montezemolo is one of the most important people in Ferrari's history. He first worked for the Formula 1 team in the 1970s and joined the company again in 1991, becoming Enzo Ferrari's successor. In his tenure, which lasted until 2014, Montezemolo oversaw a transformation in Ferrari's road-car business and its most dominant period in F1. Now, it seems he's working for Ferrari's closest rival—McLaren. A Reddit user noticed earlier today that Montezemolo was just listed as a director for McLaren Group Holdings Limited on Companies House, the British government agency that maintains a registry for companies in the country. We've reached out to McLaren Automotive for comment. McLaren Group Holdings Limited controls McLaren Automotive, the road-car division of the famous British brand. Abu Dhabi investment firm CYVN Holdings purchased McLaren Automotive last December and merged it with Forseven, a UK EV startup it also owns. Last month, McLaren Automotive announced Forseven CEO Nick Collins would take over as chief executive for the supercar company. Collins was formerly head of R&D for Jaguar Land Rover. As of right now, it seems like Montezemolo won't have anything to do with McLaren's F1 team, which is still controlled by the Bahrain-owned McLaren Group. Under Montezemolo's tenure, Ferrari's road car business went from malaise to the envy of the automotive industry. The cars that came out during his 13 years at the company are among the best it's ever made—F355, 550, F50, Enzo, 599, 458, F12berlinetta, LaFerrari, and more. He also hugely boosted sales with the California while pushing more limited-run and one-off models too. CYVN wants to turn around McLaren Automotive's business. With Montezemolo on board, it has someone that did the same with Ferrari with panache. Source: Companies House via Reddit Share this Story Facebook X LinkedIn Flipboard Reddit WhatsApp E-Mail Got a tip for us? Email: tips@ Join the conversation ( )
Zawya
21 hours ago
- Business
- Zawya
Gulf Air resumes scheduled flights to the Jordanian Capital Amman and to Baghdad and Najaf in the Republic of Iraq
Muharraq, Bahrain: Gulf Air, the national carrier of the Kingdom of Bahrain, announced the resumption of its scheduled flights to and from the cities of Amman in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, and Baghdad and Najaf in the Republic of Iraq, starting from Saturday 28 June 2025. The airline added that the rest of its flights to destinations across its network are operating according to schedule. Gulf Air extends its sincere gratitude to its valued customers for their patience and understanding, as the exceptional recent regional developments affected some of its flights. The airline reaffirmed that the safety and well-being of passengers and crew is a top priority for Gulf Air. Passengers can stay updated on flight schedules by downloading the Gulf Air mobile application or visiting Gulf Air's website Gulf Air: A Tradition of Excellence Gulf Air, the national carrier of the Kingdom of Bahrain, has been operating since 1950, making it one of the earliest airlines established in the Middle East. The airline operates scheduled flights from its hub at Bahrain International Airport to various destinations across Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, and the Far East. Gulf Air is recognized as a "Five-Star Major Airline" by APEX, based on verified traveler reviews, and has been awarded this prestigious status for the year 2025. The airline was also named "World's Most Improved Airline" in 2022 by Skytrax.
Khaleej Times
a day ago
- Business
- Khaleej Times
India's HDFC Bank under scrutiny in UAE for selling risky bonds to unqualified clients
India's largest private lender, HDFC Bank, has come under regulatory scrutiny in the UAE amid allegations that it sold high-risk Credit Suisse bonds to retail investors, many of whom saw their investments wiped out during the Swiss bank's collapse. Documents and legal notices reviewed by Khaleej Times reveal that clients were sold Additional Tier-1 (AT1) bonds — a complex, high-risk instrument — despite not meeting the financial or expertise thresholds required under Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) rules. These bonds, issued by the now-defunct Credit Suisse, were written down to zero in March 2023 during its emergency merger with UBS, leaving investors with nothing. Under DFSA regulations, AT1 bonds can only be sold to "professional clients" — typically those with a net worth exceeding $1 million or proven expertise in high-risk products. Yet, retail investors with far lower profiles allege they were aggressively targeted by HDFC Bank relationship managers, who allegedly falsified financial records to bypass safeguards. Complaints have been filed with regulators in the UAE, Bahrain, and the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), though there is no official confirmation yet of formal investigations. In response to a detailed query from Khaleej Times, HDFC Bank denied any wrongdoing. "The bank has robust processes to communicate product features and help clients understand product benefits and risks," it said in a statement. "We take a serious view of any malpractice and take stringent action in such cases." The bank also dismissed as "speculative" reports that its chairman had met DIFC regulators following a show-cause notice. The Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA), when contacted, declined to comment, citing confidentiality obligations under Article 38 of the Regulatory Law. But some clients paint a different picture. Investors speak out Among those affected is Dubai resident Varun Mahajan, who says he lost his entire life savings of $300,000 after investing in Credit Suisse's 4.5% perpetual bonds on the advice of his relationship manager at HDFC Bank's DIFC branch. Mahajan said he was repeatedly assured the bonds were safe and that he could earn better returns by taking a USD loan against his fixed deposits in India. "I made it clear I only wanted low-risk investments with fixed returns," he told Khaleej Times. When the Credit Suisse crisis deepened in early 2023, Mahajan says he raised concerns but was told by the bank that prices were rebounding and there was no cause for alarm. "It was a betrayal. I had no idea I was being sold AT1 bonds. I only learnt this after everything was gone," he said. Mahajan alleged he was shocked to discover that HDFC Bank had forged and manipulated his KYC documents. In a legal notice and police complaint filed in India, he accused the bank of inflating his declared net worth from $400,000 to $2.4 million simply by adding a '2' at the front so he could be falsely classified as a 'professional client' under DFSA rules. In reality, his assets were a fraction of that threshold. Documents reviewed by Khaleej Times confirm this discrepancy. Another Indian investor, NS, based in the Philippines, told Khaleej Times he invested $200,000 in Credit Suisse and Standard Chartered AT1 bonds through HDFC Bank — again based on advice from a Dubai-based relationship manager. He alleged HDFC Bank misrepresented the bonds as low-risk, provided a loan sanction letter without his request, manipulated his investor profile, and enticed him into investing in high-risk instruments without warning him of market risks. "I did not sign any loan agreement, yet the bank gave me a leverage loan," he said. NS also claimed that his Master Services Agreement was altered, his relationship manager's name scratched out and replaced and that even after the bonds were written off in March 2023, they continued to appear in his portfolio. 'They misled me until the very end," he said. "The bank did not have a net banking facility, thus controlling all the investments." Pankaj Sinha, who lives in India, stated that he lost more than $200,000 after purchasing Credit Suisse and Standard Chartered AT1 bonds through HDFC's Bahrain branch. In a police complaint filed in Gurgaon, he alleged that the bank misrepresented the bonds as "capital-protected" with fixed maturity. "I was told they would mature in 2026 and 2030. Only later did I learn they were perpetual and could be wiped out," he said. Sinha alleged that HDFC officials in Dubai instructed him over WhatsApp to sign a blank KYC form, which the bank later filled in with a fictitious net worth of $4 million to classify him as an accredited investor. "It was deceitful," he said. "The documents were selectively shared. I was never given full agreements before signing." He also claimed the bank ignored his repeated requests to exit the investments. "Instead, they kept reassuring me it was capital-protected. When the bonds collapsed, they tried to distance themselves from everything they'd said on calls and WhatsApp." Another investor, AT, a senior telecom executive who spoke to Khaleej Times from Johannesburg, shared a similar ordeal. He said he was first approached by his relationship manager in India, who connected him to another banker at HDFC's Bahrain branch. "They knew my risk appetite was extremely conservative," AT said. "Yet they chose the riskiest product — AT1 bonds — and pushed me into it purely to earn commissions." He said the bank repeatedly assured him the bonds were safe and convinced him to invest $200,000. Later, they extended a leverage loan of $400,000, which pushed him into a debt trap. When the bonds were wiped out, AT said he reached out to senior bank executives but received no help. "They even liquidated my fixed deposits in India to cover the loan in Bahrain," he said. Having filed a police complaint in India, AT says he is now exploring legal options in both countries. "This must be investigated. The trust people have in the banking system is at stake." Internal sources say the Offshore Head of HDFC Bank in Dubai has been replaced under unclear circumstances, and more than a dozen regional managers from the bank's DIFC branch have resigned over the past few months. Systemic concerns and regulatory gaps Under DFSA rules, complex instruments like AT1 bonds are to be sold only to "professional clients" — those with significant assets and a sound understanding of financial risks. The cases reviewed by Khaleej Times suggest HDFC Bank bypassed these safeguards by manipulating client profiles and documentation. In NS's case, no Reverse Solicitation Agreement — normally required when dealing with offshore clients — was ever signed. In Mahajan and Sinha's cases, key bond documents and risk disclosures were shared only after their investments had collapsed. The full extent of the fallout remains unclear, but early findings suggest that multiple investors across jurisdictions may have suffered combined losses running into millions of dollars. "Regulators will be looking into how HDFC Bank operated across various jurisdictions," said an industry expert. "Some clients were approached by bankers in the UAE, advised from DIFC, and had accounts opened in Bahrain, raising serious questions about jurisdictional oversight and accountability." The DIFC is a financial-free zone with its own common-law-based legal system. Its regulatory authority, the DFSA, operates independently of the UAE's Central Bank and enforces strict investor classification and disclosure requirements—safeguards that clients now say were sidestepped. What are AT1 bonds? For those unfamiliar, Additional Tier-1 (AT1) bonds are high-risk instruments that banks use to raise capital. Unlike regular bonds, they can be entirely written off or converted into equity if the issuing bank gets into financial trouble. This means investors can lose all their money—exactly what happened when Swiss authorities wiped out Credit Suisse's AT1 bonds during its emergency merger with UBS in 2023.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
American Shannon Rowbury upgraded to 2012 Olympic 1500m bronze medal
American Shannon Rowbury is now the 2012 Olympic 1500m bronze medalist, moving up from fourth place after silver medalist Tatyana Tomashova of Russia was retroactively disqualified in a doping case last September. IOC President Kirsty Coventry announced Thursday that the 2012 Olympic 1500m silver and bronze medals were reallocated. Advertisement Abeba Aregawi of Ethiopia was upgraded to silver and Rowbury to bronze, both behind gold medalist Maryam Yusuf Jamal of Bahrain. "I feel really blessed that my Olympic story seems to be having a happy ending, which is something I had kind of given up on," Rowbury told her local NBC affiliate in the Bay Area in September. Rowbury, who is 40 and last competed internationally on the track in 2020, is now one of two U.S. women to win an Olympic 1500m medal. Jenny Simpson took bronze at the 2016 Rio Games. Rowbury crossed the finish line in sixth place in the 2012 Olympic 1500m final. Since, five women out of the original field of 13 have been retroactively disqualified for doping. Advertisement The original gold and silver medalists — Asli Cakir Alptekin and Gamze Bulut of Turkiye — were disqualified in 2015 and 2017, respectively. Jamal was then upgraded from bronze to gold, Tomashova was upgraded from fourth place to silver and Aregawi was upgraded from fifth place to bronze. Aregawi received her reallocated bronze medal in a ceremony at the Paris Olympics on Aug. 9. Now, those results have changed again with the bronze going to Rowbury and the silver to Aregawi. 2012 Olympic women's 1500m final results D̶Q̶.̶ ̶A̶̶̶s̶̶̶l̶̶̶i̶̶̶ ̶C̶̶̶a̶̶̶k̶̶̶i̶̶̶r̶̶̶ ̶A̶̶̶l̶̶̶p̶̶̶t̶̶̶e̶̶̶k̶̶̶i̶̶̶n̶̶̶ ̶(̶̶̶T̶̶̶U̶̶̶R̶̶̶)̶̶̶ ̶-̶̶̶-̶̶̶ ̶4̶̶̶:̶̶̶1̶̶̶0̶̶̶.̶2̶̶̶3̶ ̶D̶Q̶.̶ ̶G̶̶̶a̶̶̶m̶̶̶z̶̶̶e̶̶̶ ̶B̶̶̶u̶̶̶l̶̶̶u̶̶̶t̶̶̶ ̶(̶̶̶T̶̶̶U̶̶̶R̶̶̶)̶̶̶ ̶-̶̶̶-̶̶̶ ̶4̶̶̶:̶̶̶1̶̶̶0̶̶̶.̶4̶̶̶0̶̶̶ Gold: Maryam Yusuf Jamal (BRN) -- 4:10.74 ̶D̶Q̶.̶ ̶T̶̶̶a̶̶̶t̶̶̶y̶̶̶a̶̶̶n̶̶̶a̶̶̶ ̶T̶̶̶o̶̶̶m̶̶̶a̶̶̶s̶̶̶h̶̶̶o̶̶̶v̶̶̶a̶̶̶ ̶(̶̶̶R̶̶̶U̶̶̶S̶̶̶)̶̶̶ ̶-̶̶̶-̶̶̶ ̶4̶̶̶:̶̶̶1̶̶̶0̶̶̶.̶9̶̶̶0̶̶̶ Silver: Abeba Aregawi (ETH) -- 4:11.03 Bronze: Shannon Rowbury (USA) -- 4:11.26 D̶Q̶.̶ ̶N̶̶̶a̶̶̶t̶̶̶a̶̶̶l̶̶̶l̶̶̶i̶̶̶a̶̶̶ ̶K̶̶̶a̶̶̶r̶̶̶e̶̶̶i̶̶̶v̶̶̶a̶̶̶ ̶(̶̶̶B̶̶̶L̶̶̶R̶̶̶)̶̶̶ ̶-̶̶̶-̶̶̶ ̶4̶̶̶:̶̶̶1̶̶̶1̶̶̶.̶5̶̶̶8̶̶̶ 4. Lucia Klocova (SVK) -- 4:12.64 ̶D̶Q̶.̶ ̶E̶̶̶k̶̶̶a̶̶̶t̶̶̶e̶̶̶r̶̶̶i̶̶̶n̶̶̶a̶̶̶ ̶K̶̶̶o̶̶̶s̶̶̶t̶̶̶e̶̶̶t̶̶̶s̶̶̶k̶̶̶a̶̶̶y̶̶̶a̶̶̶ ̶(̶̶̶R̶̶̶U̶̶̶S̶̶̶)̶̶̶ ̶-̶̶̶-̶̶̶ ̶4̶̶̶:̶̶̶1̶̶̶2̶̶̶.̶9̶̶̶0̶̶̶ 5. Lisa Dobriskey (GBR) -- 4:13.02 6. Laura Weightman (GBR) -- 4:15.60 7. Hellen Obiri (KEN) -- 4:16.57 DNF. Morgan Uceny (USA)
Zawya
2 days ago
- Business
- Zawya
BIBF, INFINITEWARE sign MoU to expand digital training and consultancy offerings
The Bahrain Institute of Banking and Finance (BIBF) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with INFINITEWARE, a regional leader in digital transformation and innovation, represented by its CEO, Mr. Ameen Altajer. This strategic collaboration aims to strengthen the delivery of advanced digital training programmes and consultancy services offered by INFINITEWARE through BIBF, supporting the Institute's commitment to developing future-ready skills in Bahrain and the wider region. Through this partnership, BIBF and INFINITEWARE will jointly explore opportunities for expanding training modules in emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence, software engineering, and digital transformation, as well as providing bespoke consultation services for corporate clients. Dr. Ahmed AlShaikh, CEO of BIBF, commented: 'Partnering with INFINITEWARE reflects our shared vision to empower the workforce with in-demand digital skills. We believe this collaboration will contribute significantly to national development goals in the digital economy space.' Mr. Ameen Altajer, CEO of INFINITEWARE, added: 'We are proud to join hands with BIBF, a respected institution that continues to invest in innovation and talent. Together, we aim to provide impactful, high-quality training and consultancy solutions that address real market needs.' The MoU reinforces BIBF's strategic direction in partnering with innovative tech leaders to offer cutting-edge learning experiences across sectors. About the BIBF The Bahrain Institute of Banking and Finance (BIBF) is the leading provider of education and training in the region, established in 1981 under the Central Bank of Bahrain. With a commitment to enhancing human capital, the BIBF serves not only Bahrain but also extends its reach to 64 countries worldwide, solidifying its global presence. The BIBF is dedicated to delivering excellence across a broad spectrum of business disciplines. It partners with numerous international institutions to offer thought leadership, assessment, and training in key areas, including: Banking and Finance Islamic Banking Executive Education Accounting and Finance Academic Studies Leadership and Management Insurance Digital Transformation and Project Management For more information, please contact the Marketing and Corporate Communications Department at: Email: media@ Website:
