In a Venezuela whose infrastructure has been abandoned to the past, it is easy to forget that even here the famous phrase “the future is already here, it’s just not evenly distributed” still applies. In many ways it perfectly encapsulates the contradictions of Venezuelan society, a country where running water and electricity is far from a certainty and yet adoption of payment technologies and cryptocurrencies far outpaces that of developed countries. Whatever one thinks of the usefulness and value of these technologies, we can expect even more contradictions in the coming age of AI.
The future and AI will arrive in Venezuela, but to whose benefit? And for which purposes?
Before answering these questions I think it’s helpful to understand the technology which is AI through Jensen Huang’s analogy of a five layer cake, where Layer One is the top and Layer Five the bottom.
One – AI Applications (Claude Code, Copilot, ChatGPT, etc)
Two – AI Models (Claude-Opus, GPT5, Llama, etc)
Three – Cloud Data Center Infrastructure
Four – Chips and Computing Infrastructure
Five – Energy
Each layer of the cake requires the one below to stand. These are complicated supply chains that allow for the incredible technology that is modern generative AI.
In the case of Venezuela we can forget about having much to do with Layers Two and Four. These simply require too much know-how that the engineers and manufacturers in Venezuela do not have. We cannot compete with factories in Taiwan or China nor can we compete with computer and electrical engineers making millions of dollars a year in Silicon Valley. For a few decades at least.
Let’s look at how we can expect the other three to apply to Venezuela.
The first layer of the cake, even if these applications are not made in Venezuela (and most won’t be), they will not be difficult to deploy as these companies will offer (as they do now) software-as-a-service (SaaS) products whose infrastructure can run anywhere else in the world. The use of these tools requires little more than an internet connection and we can expect some level of widespread adoption, but likely not much in terms of cutting-edge innovation.
Because of the insatiable demand from AI companies for energy and places to put their datacenters where it’ll be the most profitable, Venezuela is attractive with its much lower-cost energy in relative terms.
Before discussing more of possible AI applications in Venezuela, let’s consider layers three (cloud datacenter infrastructure) and five (energy). These are where Venezuela is more relevant than may first meet the eye.
As you can see the entire cake relies on one base: energy. Energy and its cost is the main constraint for the entire supply chain of AI and the main reason why companies like Anthropic and OpenAI remain unprofitable despite tens of billions of dollars in revenue.
Venezuela is a potential powerhouse for energy production. Not only does it have incredibly high oil reserves but also impressive hydropower, and an extremely underdeveloped solar and wind industry.
In her bid to ask for international support, opposition leader María Corina Machado has framed Venezuela’s future as an energy hub for the Americas. Because of the insatiable demand from AI companies for energy and places to put their datacenters where it’ll be the most profitable, Venezuela is attractive with its much lower-cost energy in relative terms.
If only it had a functioning grid.
The focus on fixing this enormous issue during this stabilization phase of the American plan is no accident. The world, as has been the case since it first found oil, looks to Venezuela for the energy it can provide. One could see this negatively in that Venezuelans will have to compete with large multinational AI companies for energy, but the “stability” in the political environment that these companies require could incidentally be good for Venezuelans.
Stability of governance and respect of property rights is crucial for any company looking to make hypothetical data center or energy investments since this infrastructure takes multiple years to develop, if not decades. A return to true law and order and unassailable property rights would be an undeniable boon to the economy.
Local corporations will probably use AI-powered enterprise software as many others in the world. Though the Venezuelan entrepreneurial spirit keeps surprising, it seems likely that Venezuelan businesses will be not quite at the cutting edge but still positioned to take advantage of AI.
The area of most interest, or rather most concern, is how the government might use these tools. The Venezuelan government has laid out their first risk-based ethical code for AI, largely modeled after the EU’s AI Act. Whether or not this translates to law, remains to be seen, but they have spoken about their commitment to “humanist” AI which disavows use cases such as manipulation, mass surveillance and disinformation. These are great values to strive for, but the government’s respect for its own laws, let alone ethical codes, has been more than lacking.
AI gives tyrants around the world exactly what they want: an army of intelligent capable agents who can’t say no and don’t need to be fed or housed.
In its ability to perform thinking tasks with lightning speed in a parallelizable manner, AI is a technology which tyrants in years past must have wished they had access to. A virtual army of bureaucrats (which the Venezuelan State already has in human form) observing citizens and making small decisions, putting names on lists, logging personal connections, building political profiles as well as modeling how likely a person would be to vote a certain way or become an annoying political activist, thus saving intelligence agencies hundreds of thousands of man-hours a year. Relying less on actual humans to want to do the work of spying on their own people or even themselves.
AI agents can screen social media and the internet for any sign of online political coordination and connect that to their already centralized data systems, which could be used to target or deny access to benefits for anyone who the AI has decided is toxic to your agenda.
When you are unpopular and attempting to maintain control over a population, technology is your friend because you can leverage your human capital much further, to do what you need done without the need to grow your network of trusted people. AI gives tyrants around the world exactly what they want: an army of intelligent capable agents who can’t say no and don’t need to be fed or housed.
At the moment, Venezuela’s future hangs in the balance, leadership going forward is unclear but one thing is clear. It will not be more of the same. The only permanent thing in the world is change, and the future will arrive in Venezuela. The question is: how will it be distributed? Who will get the benefits?
As always, it will benefit those with power. The question is: who will have power?
The European Commission on Thursday cut its 2026 growth forecast for the European economy, as the ongoing conflict in the Middle East drives energy prices sharply higher.
The EU economy is now expected to grow by just 1.1% in 2026, down from the 1.4% projected in the Commission’s autumn forecast. The eurozone outlook was revised down further to 0.9%.
In its report, the Commission warned that disruption to global energy markets — caused by escalating tensions around the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s key oil and gas shipping routes — has significantly worsened Europe’s economic outlook.
“Before the end of February 2026, the EU economy was expected to continue expanding at a moderate pace, alongside a further decline in inflation,” the report said. “However, the outlook has changed substantially since the outbreak of the conflict.”
Inflation is also expected to rise sharply due to the disruption around Hormuz.
EU inflation is forecast to reach 3.1% this year — a full percentage point higher than previously expected — driven mainly by soaring energy costs after oil and gas prices surged amid fears of supply disruptions in the Gulf.
For EU officials, the shock recalls 2022, when Russia’s invasion of Ukraine triggered Europe’s worst energy crisis in decades.
The Commission described the latest turmoil as “the second such shock in less than five years”, warning that Europe’s dependence on imported fossil fuels leaves it highly vulnerable whenever geopolitical tensions threaten global energy supplies.
Consumer confidence has already fallen to a 40-month low, according to the forecast, as households prepare for higher heating and fuel bills while businesses face rising operating costs and weaker demand.
Investment is also expected to slow as companies confront tighter financing conditions and growing uncertainty. Export growth is weakening as global demand softens.
Despite the deteriorating outlook, Brussels said the bloc is better prepared than during the Ukraine-related energy crisis, thanks to years of investment in renewable energy, lower gas consumption and efforts to diversify away from Russian supplies.
“The push towards supply diversification, decarbonisation and lower energy consumption has left the EU economy better placed to absorb today’s shock,” the Commission said.
However, EU officials acknowledged that risks remain heavily skewed to the downside.
The report warned that prolonged disruption in the Strait of Hormuz or across wider Middle Eastern supply chains could drive energy prices even higher, derail the expected easing of inflation in 2027 and potentially stall Europe’s recovery altogether.
The Commission also cautioned that shortages of refined oil products, fertilisers and other industrial inputs could spread through global supply chains, increasing food and manufacturing costs across Europe.
Meanwhile, European governments are preparing for growing fiscal pressure. Public deficits across the EU are expected to widen as governments increase spending to protect households from rising energy bills while also boosting defence expenditure amid mounting geopolitical instability.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has recently urged the European Commission to relax fiscal rules for households and industries struggling with soaring energy costs, arguing that energy security should be treated with the same urgency as defence spending.
At the centre of Rome’s request is the EU’s national escape clause, adopted on 8 July, which allows member states temporary fiscal flexibility to increase defence spending under exceptional circumstances.
Meloni said Brussels had already shown a willingness to loosen budget rules in response to Russia’s war in Ukraine and growing concerns about Europe’s military preparedness. Italy is now seeking similar flexibility for emergency energy measures.
SpaceX founder Elon Musk announced plans on Wednesday for one of the biggest stock sales ever, by taking a space company public that is currently losing billions of dollars a year.
A filing shows that SpaceX lost $2.6 billion (€2.24bn) from operations last year on $18.7 billion in revenue, and the losses continued at the start of this year.
The prospectus did not put a dollar figure on the amount Musk hopes to raise, but various reports have estimated it at around $75bn (€64.5bn). An offering of that size would easily surpass the current title holder, Saudi Aramco, the oil giant that went public seven years ago and raised $26bn (€22.4bn).
SpaceX, formally known as Space Exploration Technologies Corp., said the money will help finance projects to put people on the Moon and Mars, as part of its goal to make humans an interplanetary species in the face of existential threats that could wipe out civilisation.
“We do not want humans to have the same fate as dinosaurs,” the filing states.
The prospectus reads, in part, like a Hollywood-style vision of the future, detailing in one section that part of Musk’s compensation will be granted only if he maintains “a permanent human colony on Mars with at least one million inhabitants.”
Short of that, the stock sale alone could make Musk — the founder and a major shareholder of SpaceX — the world’s first trillionaire. Forbes currently estimates his net worth at $839bn (€722bn), roughly equivalent to Poland’s annual GDP.
In addition to making reusable rockets to send astronauts into orbit, SpaceX has other businesses, some successful and others struggling, with plenty of question marks.
The document shows that Starlink, the world’s largest satellite communications company, is a major source of cash, generating $4.4bn (€3.8bn) in operating income last year. The business uses 10,000 satellites in low orbit to provide internet service to 10 million people in 150 countries and territories.
Among the struggling businesses are two Musk ventures recently acquired by SpaceX — his social media platform X, formerly Twitter, and his artificial intelligence firm xAI. Those purchases were criticised by some SpaceX investors as bailouts, as both are significant loss-makers.
The prospectus said its AI business lost $6.4bn (€5.5bn) from operations last year.
The original SpaceX business — building rockets and conducting launches — has benefited from major government contracts, raising questions that could come back to affect the company. Given Musk’s close ties to the Trump administration, government ethics lawyers and watchdogs have questioned whether he received preferential treatment in securing taxpayer-funded contracts, and whether that support will continue once Donald Trump leaves office.
SpaceX has won contracts worth $6bn (€5.2bn) from NASA, the Defence Department and other government agencies over the past five years, according to USAspending.gov. The company noted in its filing that one-fifth of its revenue last year came from the federal government.
Musk was the biggest donor to Trump’s presidential campaign and remains a major backer, despite a sometimes rocky relationship following his role in the government cost-cutting effort known as DOGE early last year.
Like many corporate CEOs, Musk’s compensation goes far beyond his annual salary, which was $54,080 (€46,538.5)in 2025 and has remained unchanged since 2019, according to the filing.
The prospectus says stock grants for him will be divided into 15 nearly equal tranches — 67 million shares each — and will vest only as the company reaches preset market capitalisation targets. In addition to the Mars colony milestone, SpaceX’s market value would need to reach $7.5 trillion (€6.45tr) for him to receive the full award.
He would receive additional stock awards if SpaceX succeeds in deploying giant data centres the size of football fields in space.
The document shows Musk will retain significant control over the business.
It states that he and certain other shareholders will receive shares in a special class of stock that gives them 10 votes per share. These shareholders will be able, among other things, to elect a majority of the company’s board of directors.
“This will limit or preclude your ability to influence corporate matters and the election of our directors,” SpaceX said in a warning to prospective investors.
SpaceX will be able to market the offering to investors — in what is known on Wall Street as a “roadshow” — 15 days after making its prospectus public. In this case, that would be 4 June.
Dilok Klaisataporn
Japan reported a trade surplus of JPY 301.9 billion in April 2026, compared to a deficit of JPY 149.5 billion in April 2025, significantly exceeding expectations for a JPY 29.7 billion deficit.
This surplus is the largest since November, with exports
Finance leaders shift from AI experimentation to measurable ROI across corporate operations.
We get it. Artificial intelligence is impressive. But how is it saving CFOs money?
Prithwijit Chaki has a take. As Global Leader for Finance Advisory at Genpact, a global professional services firm, Chaki helps chief financial officers harness AI and data to drive measurable business outcomes. With more than two decades of experience advising companies on finance strategy and large-scale transformation, he has seen firsthand how enterprises are rewiring their finance operations for an AI-first era.
That perspective takes on new dimensions with Genpact’s alliance with Google Cloud, announced earlier this month. The partnership translates AI ambition into production-ready operations.
Global Finance asked Chaki how that vision is taking shape and whether the conversation is no longer just about how AI can enhance productivity, but about bottom-line business value.
Global Finance: CFOs have spent the last two years experimenting with AI pilots. What’s different in 2026?
Prithwijit Chaki: CFOs are moving from AI experimentation to AI accountability. After years of pilots, the question is no longer whether AI can improve individual productivity, but whether those gains translate into enterprise value across the finance function: faster close cycles, better working capital, lower manual review burden, stronger controls, or measurable business outcomes.
According to a Genpact/HFS Research report, investment in agentic AI is expected to rise 38% over the next year. However, 67% of enterprises still rely on outdated productivity metrics that fail to capture the value of autonomous decision-making. That’s the gap CFOs are trying to close in 2026: cutting through the ‘sea of sameness’ in the AI market to determine which applications can deliver real, achievable value versus which are simply adding to the noise.
GF: How does agentic AI change day-to-day finance operations?
Chaki: Traditional automation follows basic rules, and generative AI can help an individual complete a task faster. Agentic AI goes even further. It operates inside finance workflows — deciding, acting, learning, and orchestrating work across processes with people still in the loop where needed. In practical terms, that could mean moving from someone using a copilot to draft a dunning letter faster to a more integrated workflow that identifies the right action, drafts the communication, routes exceptions, applies policy guardrails, and connects the work back to measurable enterprise value.
GF: What’s one example of cost savings or business impact that CFOs see from implementing agentic AI?
Chaki: A good example is a global supply chain and distribution company processing close to 3.5 million invoices a year. After a major merger, their finance team was dealing with disconnected ERP systems, heavy manual intervention, and slow exception resolution—the kind of last-mile complexity that generic automation can’t solve. Working with Genpact, they deployed our AI-powered Genpact AP Suite combined with our agentic operations model — 21 pretrained, domain-specific AI agents that autonomously route, prioritize, and resolve invoice exceptions, with human experts validating where needed.
GF: What were the results?
Chaki: Significant. Touchless invoice processing went from 7% to 65%. Invoice cycle times were nearly halved — from 18–29 days down to 9–14 days. On-time payment rates jumped from 60% to 95%. Data extraction accuracy improved from 40% to 92%. And the system identified approximately $350 million in duplicate invoices, while early-payment discounts captured grew from $35 million to $44 million — real dollars added to the bottom line.
This isn’t a pilot or a proof of concept. It’s agentic AI operating at scale inside a core finance workflow, delivering measurable cost savings, stronger cash flow, and a fundamentally better supplier experience. That’s the kind of outcome CFOs are looking for.
GF: Which finance function is currently seeing the fastest returns from AI deployment—and why?
Chaki: Accounts payable is one of the clearest areas where finance teams can see tangible value. The process has high volume and repeatable workflows, but it also has a clear ‘last mile’ problem. Invoices, approvals, exceptions, regulatory nuances, and fragmented systems still require heavy manual intervention. Generic AI can automate a large share of structured work. However, the final 20% requires domain-driven AI that understands real-world complexity, from vendor history and regional rules to exception patterns, approval chains, and master data issues. That is where agentic AI can move beyond simple extraction or automation. It can start resolving mismatches, escalating exceptions, improving first-pass yield, reducing manual touchpoints, and shortening cycle times.
GF: Through Genpact’s expanded work with Google Cloud, what are CFOs specifically asking for from hyperscalers right now? Is the conversation more about cost reduction or something else?
Chaki: The CFO conversation with hyperscalers has moved beyond ‘what’s the cheapest cloud?’ or ‘show me another AI demo.’ CFOs want production-ready finance operations that deliver real, measurable business outcomes. That’s what Genpact’s alliance with Google Cloud aims to address. By pairing Google’s AI infrastructure with Genpact’s finance expertise, CFOs can improve forecasting accuracy, strengthen cash flow, and scale AI within their existing cloud environments.
The goal is not just to reduce costs. It’s about boosting process efficiency and accuracy, freeing finance teams from manual work, improving decision-making, and giving CFOs a clearer path from AI investment to strategic value.
GF: Are there any guardrails that must be in place before agentic AI can be trusted within core financial workflows?
Chaki: Think of the guardrails for agentic AI as needing to scale alongside the technology itself. The more finance use cases it touches, the more important it becomes to build controls directly into the workflow. What we’re seeing today is the first wave of “agent-ification.” It operates on a machine-led, human-validated model, combining automation efficiency with expert oversight to ensure quality and compliance. Companies will build tools with that future standard in mind—where the guardrails and technology scale together—will be the ones who truly innovate what finance is capable of.
GF: Are there specific examples you can share of how you see AI augmenting finance teams?
Chaki: We’re already seeing AI reshape how finance teams spend their time. In accounts payable, for example, AI agents are handling invoice extraction, three-way matching, and exception routing. This work used to consume entire teams. In financial planning and analysis, AI is accelerating variance analysis, generating narrative commentary on actuals, and enabling rolling forecasts that would have been extremely time-consuming and practically impractical to run manually. When it comes to record-to-report, it’s compressing close cycles by automating reconciliations and surfacing anomalies before they become audit issues.
GF: Do you expect job cuts?
Chaki: The shift this creates is less about job cuts and more about role evolution. Finance teams won’t shrink overnight, but the composition will change. You’ll see fewer people doing repetitive transactional work and more people in roles that require judgment, such as interpreting AI-generated insights, managing agent workflows, overseeing controls, and partnering with the business on strategic decisions. The finance professional of the future looks more like a combination of business partner and orchestrator than a processor.
Over the next three to five years, as agentic AI matures and enterprise vendors begin offering subscription-based finance capabilities built on entire agentic libraries, the operating model will shift. Finance functions will become leaner, faster, and more insight-driven but the organizations that get there first will be the ones investing now in both technology and the talent to work alongside it.
An ambitious data center project stalls due to insufficient electrical capacity.
Kenya is positioning itself as Africa’s Silicon Savannah and its premier tech hub. Touting itself as a “full-package investment destination,” part of the strategy has been encouraging global tech giants to set up operations in the country.
Lately, however, the plan has run into a roadblock: electrical capacity.
Pull back to May 2024, when Microsoft Corp., in partnership with G42, an Emirati-based AI developer, unveiled plans to invest $1 billion in a data center in Kenya powered by geothermal energy.
Described as the single largest and broadest digital investment in the country’s history, the center would be the heartbeat of a digitally led economy in Kenya and the wider East Africa region, anchored in AI and cloud-computing services.
Two years later, the project has been abandoned on account of too little electricity to power the center.
According to G42, the facility was supposed to be located some 100 kilometers northwest of Nairobi, the epicenter of geothermal energy production. Initially, it would have required 100 megawatts of electricity to run, but when fully operational, 1 gigawatt.
For a country whose installed electricity capacity stands at only 3,840 MW (3.8 GW), and where national connectivity is approximately 76%, the realization was astounding.
“To switch on that one data center, we would need to shut off power for half the country,” said President William Ruto at a recent state event. “That’s when I knew there was a problem.” Kenya continues to lose high-value investments due to low electricity capacity, he conceded; to attract and secure investment, it needs at least 10 GW.
That leaves Kenya with no ongoing power generation projects or plans for more in the future.
The stalling of the data center is bad news for Microsoft. The tech giant saw East Africa as a ripe market for its Azure products and other cloud and AI-powered solutions for businesses and the public sector. A key focus was to help governments digitize operations and service delivery, starting with Kenya, which has indicated plans to move more of its services to the cloud. Another goal was to help startups, entrepreneurs, and organizations build a digital ecosystem offering critical solutions to key sectors of the economy.
Earnings Call Insights: NVIDIA (NVDA) Q1 fiscal 2027
“This was an extraordinary quarter, demand has gone parabolic. The reason is simple, agentic AI has arrived. AI can now do productive and valuable work. Tokens are now profitable, so model makers are in a race
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Earnings Call Insights: Intuit (INTU) Q3 fiscal 2026
“We delivered strong overall results this quarter with Q3 revenue growing 10% as we made significant progress executing on our AI-driven expert platform strategy.” (CEO, President & Chairman Sasan Goodarzi)
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U.S. crude oil plunges below $100 on U.S.-Iran optimism; three supertankers exit Hormuz
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Earnings Call Insights: Roivant Sciences Ltd. (ROIV) Q4 2025
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Earnings Call Insights: The TJX Companies (TJX) Q1 fiscal 2027
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PepsiCo eyes selective price increases due to increased costs
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Global Finance’s World’s Best IFI winners outperformed the sector in 2025, emphasizing innovation and AI adoption. But new Mideast conflicts pose new challenges.
Islamic financial institutions (IFIs) modestly improved their performance in 2025, recording an average Return on Average Assets of 2% and a 12% increase in total assets. This compares to 1.9% and 9%, respectively, in the prior year. The winners of Global Finance’s World’s Best Islamic Financial Institutions Awards all achieved above-average profitability and growth.
Digitalization and AI remain strong areas of focus and investment as IFIs seek to drive customer growth, increase financing assets and deposits, and strengthen their competitiveness against conventional banks. Retail banking remains the main pillar of most Islamic banks, but IFIs are strengthening their commercial banking delivery as well. Corporate finance, capital markets, and wealth management activities are also becoming increasingly important to the sector.
A relatively low cost of funds contributes to Islamic banks’ positive margins. The biggest of the group, which dominate their domestic markets, continue to outperform their rivals, reflecting funding advantages and cost efficiencies.
The winners of Global Finance’s 2026 World’s Best Islamic Financial Institutions Awards have also distinguished themselves as innovative by introducing new Islamic banking products, consolidating their market share, improving service quality, and achieving good financial results. Collectively, they have shown themselves to be well managed with clear strategies. Like all Middle Eastern banks, however, they face a more challenging road ahead due to the new conflicts in the region, particularly the Iran war that’s disrupted the Persian Gulf.
This year’s top winner, Kuwait Finance House (KFH), enjoyed asset growth of 17% last year, to $139 billion, helping the bank maintain its position as the second-largest Islamic institution globally. KFH has the most diverse geographical reach of any IFI, with operations throughout the Middle East, Europe, and Asia. It has advanced its digital transformation by shifting from basic digitization to value-driven technology adoption.
Meanwhile, Boubyan Bank claimed Global Finance’s inaugural award as Most Innovative Islamic Bank. The bank stands apart for its innovation, technology-driven strategy, and strong commitment to offering financial solutions that enhance the customer experience. Boubyan made significant progress last year in embedding AI into services offered through its app.
Emirates Islamic Bank (EIB) took home the Best Islamic Financial Institution in The Middle East. The bank notched 19% growth in net profit last year, to $910 million, driven by robust balance-sheet growth. Lending grew 26% over both retail and corporate banking. Supported by a sophisticated digital offering, EIB has seen its franchise strengthen through a wide range of Shariah-compliant pro-duct offerings.
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Awards Award Winners World’s Best Islamic Financial Institutions 2026: Country and Territory Winners
In 2026, Islamic financial institutions continue to demonstrate resilience, innovation, and regional impact.
Across the Middle East, Asia, and beyond, leaders are balancing robust growth with Shariah-compliant practices, setting new standards in both domestic and cross-border markets.
Institutions are harnessing digital transformation to deliver more efficient, accessible, and customer-focused banking, from mobile apps and AI-powered services to fully digitized payment and investment platforms. Their portfolios span retail, corporate, and wealth banking, while many are pioneering new products in sukuk, digital savings, and Shariah-compliant investment solutions.
Regional leaders are also championing financial inclusion, SME support, and sustainable initiatives, reflecting a commitment to both community development and responsible growth. Across markets, the combination of innovative technology, solid performance, and ethical finance is positioning these institutions as benchmarks of excellence in the global Islamic finance landscape.
Standard Chartered Saadiq (SCS)
SCS is a leading Islamic financial institution throughout Asia and particularly in Malaysia, Pakistan, Brunei, Singapore, and Indonesia, providing innovative solutions for Shariah-compliant financial needs. With the support of parent Standard Chartered Bank, it also provides access to the global banking and financial markets. SCS is active across corporate and investment banking, trade finance, wealth management, and retail and private banking as well as the sukuk market.
Emirates Islamic Bank (EIB)
EIB had a banner year in 2025, reporting net profit up 19% at 3.3 billion UAE dirhams ($899 billion), driven by robust balance-sheet growth and higher recoveries. Financing growth was 26% over the retail and corporate banking segments. Total income in retail banking and wealth management increased 14%, driven by increased customer liabilities and Islamic financing growth. Total income from corporate and institutional banking increased 15%. Supported by a sophisticated digital offering, EIB’s franchise has strengthened across a broad menu of Shariah-compliant products.
KFH Bahrain
Part of the KFH Group, KFH Bahrain continued to develop its domestic franchise last year; to focus more closely on the local Islamic market, it sold its stake in Oman’s Ahlibank. A signal achievement in 2025 was the successful, $400 billion Additional Tier 1 Sukuk offering, the largest of its kind ever in Kuwait. Also last year, KFH Bahrain launched the KFH Gold Account, Bahrain’s first digital gold investment and savings account. KFH’s MyHassad Savings Scheme is now the island kingdom’s largest prize-based savings product, with a record-breaking deposit portfolio of $675 million following 17% growth last year. The bank also completed its fully digitized Liquidity Management Solution in 2025.
Bank Islam Brunei Darussalam
Bank Islam Brunei Darussalam is the dominant bank in Islamic finance in Brunei Darussalam, with assets of $8.3 billion covering a range of Islamic SME and consumer financing products.
ADIB Egypt
A leading performer in Egypt’s Islamic banking sector, ADIB Egypt reported assets of $7.3 billion last year, up by 42% in US dollar terms, thanks to growing market share as net profit grew 25% to $256 million. ADIB Egypt offers retail and corporate banking services together with investment banking, leasing, asset management, and microfinance.
Bank Muamalat
Indonesia’s first Islamic bank, founded in 1991, Bank Muamalat today holds total assets of $4 billion. It provides a comprehensive range of Shariah-compliant financial services and has pioneered many Islamic banking products in Indonesia.
Islamic International Arab Bank (IIAB)
IIAB takes the title as 2026 Best IFI for Jordan thanks to a strong performance in 2025, significant digital progress, and a widening business reach. Growth was in double figures and assets now total some $6 billion. IIAB holds a 22% market share of Islamic assets in the kingdom. IIAB serves individuals, SMEs and large corporates, in addition to financing large projects. It has been an initiator of multiple domestic SME enablers, including the Kafalah Scheme, Jordan’s first Shariah-compliant finance guarantee scheme, and jointly organized the first Islamic funds mobilization with the Central Bank of Jordan, the Arab Fund, the World Bank, and other regional players.
IIAB’s digital banking services include a high-end mobile app that includes digital onboarding, seamless access to most of IIAB’s banking services, personal finance management, and third-party services via the bank’s ecosystem. IIAB is also an active AI adopter, embedding it at the core of its digital transformation to enhance customer experience, operational efficiency, and Shariah-complaint innovation.
Kuwait Finance House (KFH)
Kuwait’s second-largest bank, KFH now controls over 60% of domestic Islamic banking assets and is by far the kingdom’s largest Islamic institution. It holds a 30% share of conventional and Islamic banking assets. Domestically, KFH dominates the Islamic financing and deposit market—and, in turn, has a strong presence in the overall banking sector for both deposits and financing/loans—as well as a strong positions in retail, private, and corporate banking.
Maybank Islamic
Maybank Islamic, Malaysia’s flagship Islamic institution, is innovative, well managed, and over the long term, has recorded impressive performance. It is often first in introducing innovative Shariah-compliant financial products. In its home country, the bank controls around 30% of Islamic assets, but its activities extend across other Asian markets as well, making it the largest Islamic bank outside the Middle East and fifth-largest globally with $90 billion in assets. It also holds a prominent position in the global sukuk market. Maybank’s financial metrics are solid, with a strong capital base and good returns.
Umnia Bank
Umnia Bank was Morocco’s first Islamic bank, established in 2017. Shareholders include Qatar International Islamic Bank, CIH Bank (Credit Immobilier et Hotelier), and Caisse de Dépôt et de Gestion (CDG). Unmia operates the country’s largest Islamic banking network and is its largest by total assets, with around 50% market share in financings and 40% in deposits. Its main areas of financing are automobiles, real estate, and equipment finance.
Bank Nizwa
With $5.2 billion in assets at the end of last year, Bank Nizwa is Oman’s seventh-largest bank, with a focus on innovation that has helped broaden its reach in its home market. Oman’s first digital Islamic bank, it remains focused on digital expansion.
Reinforcing its commitment to leveraging strategic partnerships, Bank Nizwa launched the Tranna app last year in collaboration with Zappit, a financial technology company. The app is designed for expatriates living and working in Oman, enabling instant transfers to six countries: India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Nepal, the Philippines, and Bangladesh. Also last year, Bank Nizwa launched its Electronic Mandate (E-Mandate) for Direct Debit service that streamlines recurring transactions and enhances the overall banking experience for corporate and retail customers.
Meezan PAKISTAN
Meezan Pakistan had a strong 2025, launching several new products. Totall deposits increase by 28% to $17.2 billion, aided by a large branch and ATM network and solid digital infrastructure.
Meezan continued to strengthen its digital offerings via WhatsApp Banking, a simple, secure, and accessible transactions channel, and its highly rated mobile app, which is recognized for its simplicity, speed, and reliability. The app expanded its user base 40% to over 4.3 million while financial transactions increased 40% to 553 million.
The bank offers one of the industry’s most comprehensive portfolios of debit cards, supported by advanced payment technologies including NFC-enabled payments, chip and PIN security, mobile-based contactless transactions, and 3D secure e-commerce payments.
Qatar Islamic Bank
The emirate’s largest Islamic bank and its second-largest bank overall, QIB enjoys a strong franchise and market position, when ranked by total banking assets. QIB reported 2025 net profit of $1.3 billion as total assets reached $61 billion, as total assets rose to 10% to $61 billion, QIB is also active in the Islamic capital markets, including sukuk-related activities, structured financing, and transaction execution. QIB has significant government backing, with the Qatar Investment Authority its largest shareholder.
Al Rajhi Bank
Al Rajhi Bank is the world’s largest Islamic financial institution and Saudi Arabia’s flagship Islamic bank with $278 billion in total assets and $6.6 billion in net profit at the end of last year. It operates a strong retail banking network in its home market, particularly measured by deposits and income. It ranks first in banking transactions with 1 billion per month and first in remittances for the Middle East by payment value. Al Rajhi has 20.6 million customers in Saudi Arabia and the leading market share in deposits at 22.6%. Financial metrics are good, particularly capital ratios with total CAR at 21.9% at the end of 2025 and ROAA of 2.4%.
Commercial Bank of Ceylon
Al-Adalah, Commercial Bank of Ceylon’s Islamic banking window, offers a diverse portfolio of innovative Shariah-compliant products. Assets grew 67% last year as the financing portfolio doubled. The bank also made a strategic pivot in 2025 toward SME financing and sustainable energy projects.
Kuveyt Türk Katilim Bankasi (KTKB)
KTKB is KFH’s Turkish subsidiary. The largest Islamic bank in Turkey and one of the country’s top 10 banks, its business model has proved resilient amid a challenging operating environment. Commanding a 34% market share in Turkish Islamic banking, it also operates an Islamic bank in Germany under the name KT Bank AG as well as a Bahrain office that serves as a bridge between Turkey and the Gulf Cooperation Council states.
Emirates Islamic Bank (EIB)
EIB’s market position grew significantly in 2025 as assets increased 30% to $39.7 billion and deposits grew 33%, bolstered by a strong balance sheet and strong capital and liquidity position. The third-largest Islamic bank in the UAE, EIB has been improving its digital infrastructure and increasing its AI utilization. It has expanded its wealth management services and products, becoming the first Islamic bank in the UAE to launch a Shariah-compliant digital wealth offering and equity trading via mobile banking app.
Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto unveiled ambitious economic growth and fiscal deficit targets for 2027 while promising reforms aimed at restoring investor confidence and strengthening state institutions. The announcement comes after months of market concerns over government spending plans, policy uncertainty, and weakening confidence in Southeast Asia’s largest economy.
Prabowo outlined a growth target of 5.8 percent to 6.5 percent for next year while aiming to lower the fiscal deficit to between 1.8 percent and 2.4 percent of gross domestic product. The government also expects inflation to remain under control and pledged to improve food security and attract greater investment.
Indonesia has faced growing scrutiny from investors and rating agencies this year. Credit rating outlooks were downgraded due to concerns about policymaking credibility, fiscal discipline, and transparency. Market fears intensified after discussions around possible changes to the country’s long standing fiscal deficit ceiling and rising state spending commitments.
Prabowo confirmed plans to establish a new state agency to oversee exports of major commodities including coal, palm oil, and nickel. The government says the move is intended to reduce revenue losses and strengthen national control over natural resources, but investors worry it could disrupt pricing systems and reduce private sector profitability.
Despite increasing state involvement in strategic sectors, Prabowo stressed that Indonesia still welcomes private companies and small businesses as partners in economic development. He called for cooperation between the government and the private sector to achieve long term prosperity.
Indonesia’s latest economic strategy reflects a balancing act between ambitious state led development goals and the need to maintain investor confidence. While the government aims to accelerate growth and strengthen control over key resources, markets remain cautious about rising fiscal risks and unpredictable policy changes.
The proposed commodity export agency could significantly reshape Indonesia’s role in global resource markets because the country is one of the world’s largest exporters of coal and palm oil. However, stronger government intervention may create uncertainty for foreign investors and commodity traders.
At the same time, maintaining fiscal discipline will be critical as Prabowo moves forward with large welfare programmes and economic reforms. The success of his agenda will likely depend on whether the government can reassure markets while delivering growth, stability, and stronger institutional credibility.
With information from Reuters.
Keysight signals FY 2026 revenue growth in the high 20s% while guiding Q3 revenue to $1.730B-$1.750B
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Costco trades at over $1K but hasn't split its stock since Y2K
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Diplomats and MEPs reached an agreement late on Tuesday to implement the contentious EU-US agreement, which eliminates duties on most US industrial goods imported into Europe.
The negotiations concluded two weeks after US President Donald Trump threatened to impose 25% tariffs on EU cars if Europeans did not implement the agreement — clinched by Trump and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in Turnberry, Scotland, last summer — by 4 July.
The so-called “Turnberry Agreement,” criticised by MEPs as unbalanced, raises US tariffs on EU goods to as much as 15%.
“The EU and the United States share the world’s largest and most integrated economic relationship. Maintaining a stable, predictable and balanced transatlantic partnership is in the interest of both sides,” Cyprus trade Minister Michael Damianos said, adding: “Today, the European Union delivers on its commitments.”
MEPs had kept the deal frozen for several weeks following Trump’s threats over Greenland earlier this year. They also suspended it after the US adopted new tariffs following a Supreme Court ruling that declared illegal the tariffs imposed by the White House since Trump’s return to power.
Demanding clarity from the Americans, EU lawmakers finally agreed to enter into negotiations with the EU Cyprus presidency — representing EU member states — after the Commission assured them that the US would honour its side of the agreement and cap its tariffs at 15%, as agreed.
However, EU-US relations remain fragile and there is concern in Brussels that the US administration could still use tariffs to put political pressure on the EU if the bloc does not comply with the White House’s demands on other issues.
Trump’s threats over EU cars two weeks ago also targeted Germany, whose Chancellor Friedrich Merz has criticised the war in Iran launched by the Americans alongside Israel.
Trump has repeatedly called on European countries to deploy ships to help secure the Strait of Hormuz, a move Europeans have been reluctant to make.
Many disagreements also continue to strain EU–US relations over Ukraine — including the recent US extension of a sanctions waiver allowing purchases of Russian oil — and over NATO, which Trump has repeatedly threatened to leave.
On Tuesday night, MEPs tried to secure the deal by attaching conditions, risking US anger with additional provisions to which Washington had not agreed.
Under the Turnberry Agreement, the EU also committed to investing $600 billion across strategic sectors in the United States through 2028 and to purchasing $750 billion worth of US energy.
Crude oil edges lower as traders await clarity on U.S.-Iran talks
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Optimism has been the name of the game since Operation Absolute Resolve took Maduro out. Such optimism doesn’t just come from Venezuelans, where polls showed support for the intervention, but also from the investment community, which has flocked into the country to assess all kinds of opportunities. Since then, oil revenues have increased, driven not just by output increments but also by favourable price tailwinds and sanctions relief, which meant the reintroduction of Venezuelan crude into the global market. Today, Venezuela is the second largest source of imported crude in the United States, something unthinkable five months ago.
The petro dollars haven’t come in by themselves. A mechanism was designed so American officials could control how and where those funds would be deployed in order to avoid the disappearance of half of all oil revenues, as was the case under the previous administration. Additionally, licenses were granted to the BCV, new laws were passed for the hydrocarbon and mining sectors, with new MoUs being signed with international energy companies. Even macroeconomic data sets have been released for the first time in over a decade. So much appears to have changed that even multilaterals (chiefly the IMF) reemerged as crucial partners for a potential debt restructuring and stabilization program. Optimism is granted and the illusion of recovery does not come without merit, given the changes the country has experienced in less than five months.
However, that mirage breaks against the harsh reality on the ground and macroeconomic indicators that tell a different story. A year-to-date inflation of 90%, a 70% depreciation of the official exchange rate, and a widening gap between multiple dollar rates that continues to punish businesses and individuals alike. Meanwhile, the Bolívar printing press is working overtime while BCV reserves remain flat, deepening macroeconomic uncertainty and destroying what little credibility the institution still retained.
The almighty bond market will need far more than an Instagram post to bite the bait. Sovereign creditors respond to numbers, rules, and enforceability. Venezuela remains deeply deficient on those fronts.
None of this reflects an economy that is stabilizing, despite the interim authorities having a golden opportunity to do so. Instead, it reflects a government trying to politically manage deterioration without implementing the reforms necessary to stop it.
The current model is not designed to solve the crisis but to preserve political control while generating just enough liquidity, oil revenue, and international flexibility to postpone its inevitable collapse. The interim authorities continue to rely on the same mechanisms that created the disaster in the first place with an unsustainable monetary expansion, exchange-rate distortions, opaque fiscal management, and complete control over all institutions. So while oil revenues and external prospects may have improved, the underlying structure of the economy remains unchanged.
A country benefiting from stronger revenues should be rebuilding reserve buffers and restoring institutional confidence, and prioritizing the reconstruction of the essential services. Instead, every dollar is consumed by a State that remains just too large, too inefficient, and politically unwilling to reform. The central bank continues injecting Bolívares into an economy where there is effectively no confidence that the currency can preserve value over time, nor in the institutional capacity to sustain credible long-term policy.
This lack of confidence is central to understanding our persistent inflation problem. It is not solely driven by the irresponsible monetary expansion but by high money velocity resulting from the complete lack of credibility in our currency. As soon as businesses and individuals receive Bolívars, they rush to buy dollars, inventory, or any asset capable of preserving value, accelerating velocity and pushing inflation into a spiral. This is not speculation; it is rational economic behavior in response to the collapse of trust in the Bolívar. Without restoring that confidence, inflation will remain entrenched.
The foreign exchange market remains one of the clearest indicators of the country’s fragility. As the gap between the official and parallel rate distort prices throughout the economy. The widening gap between the official and parallel exchange rates distorts prices across the economy, leaving businesses struggling to establish stable cost structures or expansion plans. International investors also face enormous uncertainty regarding how those multiple rates affect their ability to move capital in and out of the country. Meanwhile, the BCV continues wasting precious dollar inflows trying to defend an artificial exchange rate that is fundamentally unsustainable.
Without institutional legitimacy, no restructuring effort or investment cycle will prove durable or beneficial for the country.
Addressing these distortions may still be too politically costly for Rodriguez. Closing the gap would require a fiscal discipline alien to chavismo, while also dismantling one of the most important corruption mechanisms for rewarding insiders.
The solution appears straightforward: transition toward a system in which dollar-auction pricing is transparent and the USD is allowed to float. Furthermore, the government should let the dollars circulate freely, letting businesses and individuals use the greenback for both transactions and contract setting. While alleviating the economic distortions, this will also contribute to slowing the velocity, and keeping inflation under control. Venezuela should pursue this approach while keeping the Bolívar alive so it can gradually recover credibility through discipline and a coherent fiscal and monetary framework.
Yet the changes necessary to stabilize the economy are the same changes that would reduce the government’s discretionary control over the economy. As previously argued, setting an independent board in the likes of Petroleos de Venezuela or the Venezuelan Central Bank would threaten the political hegemony of the interim authorities across all institutions.
The next collision with reality, where fundamental flaws will be hard to conceal, lies in the newly announced debt restructuring process. Interim authorities are about to face the almighty bond market which will need far more than an Instagram post to bite the bait. Sovereign creditors respond to numbers, rules, and enforceability. And on those fronts, Venezuela remains deeply deficient.
Venezuela’s total debt is estimated at $200 billion or about 200% of GDP. Despite Venezuela receiving a license to be able to hire Centerview, one of the most prestigious boutique firms in the market, any meaningful and fair progress would be impossible without a coherent macroeconomic plan bound by institutional legitimacy and backed by multilateral oversight, particularly from the IMF.
For Venezuela to avoid setting itself up for failure through a restructuring process that could hinder its financial capacity to grow sustainably, the Fund becomes an indispensable partner. The IMF would need to conduct an assessment of the country’s current financial stance via an Article IV consultation that hasn’t been conducted since Chavez withdrew from the organization. This assessment would be a key piece in understanding Venezuela’s repayment capacity and debt sustainability, setting the base from where to negotiate towards an agreeable debt haircut, tenor, and coupon.
Nothing will come out of the great opportunity created by the January events if there is no fundamental change over the who and hows of economic management.
An IMF-backed restructuring would eventually demand fiscal transparency, monetary discipline, reserve accumulation, independent oversight, and credible institutional reforms. Additionally, creditors will call for legal certainty and enforceable agreements that provide confidence that rules will not arbitrarily change once capital enters the country, or years later when investors seek to exit . To provide such guarantees, Venezuela would need a legitimate political and legal framework capable of signing long-term agreements recognized both domestically and internationally
Without institutional legitimacy, no restructuring effort or investment cycle will prove durable or beneficial for the country. Proceeding without these elements would leave the country exposed to holdout creditors and future arbitration battles. The cornerstone for avoiding that is a credible electoral timeline that renews and legitimizes the National Assembly and executive power.
Yet that process is also set to collide with the interim authorities’ apparent intention to manipulate political timing in their favor. The current leadership wants the benefits of the stability phase brought in by oil revenue, sanctions relief, and fresh capital without surrendering the mechanisms of control that produced the crisis in the first place.
That formula is destined to fail. The authorities are neither serious enough nor committed to making the necessary reforms. In the meantime, we can keep going over the distortion caused by the exchange rate, what new law is being proposed or the deceiving debt announcement from last week. But nothing will come out of the great opportunity created by the January events if there is no fundamental change over the who and hows of economic management.
