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What Apple’s Foldable iPhone Cost Could Mean for Shoppers This September

The foldable iPhone cost that shoppers have wondered about for two years finally has a figure behind it. Citi’s Atif Malik put

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PIF acquires Saudi football club stakes
  • PIF

When PIF acquires Saudi football club stakes, the change reaches the stands well before it shows up on a balance sheet. Saudi Arabia’s sports ministry said in a social media post that it has begun moving 25 percent of the shares held by non-profit foundations in Al-Ittihad, Al-Ahli, Al-Hilal and Al-Nassr to the Public Investment Fund. Regulatory steps are complete. The boards of those foundations will be dissolved. No price was disclosed, and the ministry framed the step as the second phase of an ownership transfer meant to make the four clubs easier for outside money to buy into.

Those foundations were built by club members. Some served for years, running elections, handling club affairs, carrying the identity of a club from one generation to the next. That role now ends. If you support one of these four teams, the people who used to speak for you inside the boardroom no longer sit there.

The PIF ownership stake and what it replaces

Regional and Saudi outlets report the fund already held 75 percent of the four clubs after the first phase in 2023, with the remaining quarter parked with each foundation. Folding in that quarter hands the fund the whole company. The second time PIF acquires Saudi football club stakes, the terms look cleaner than the first, because a single owner is far simpler to sell than a split one.

Al Hilal ownership shows where this goes. In April, the fund agreed to sell 70 percent of the club to Kingdom Holding Company, the investment firm founded by Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, for SAR840 million, around $224 million. Before that, in July 2025, US venture firm Harburg Group bought Al-Kholood Club and became the first foreign owner in the league.

Saudi Pro League privatisation moves club by club

Saudi Pro League privatisation started as a formal programme in 2024, covering 14 clubs. Teams across the top tier have since moved to owners backed by sovereign money or private capital. Each deal follows the same shape. Convert the club into a company, tighten the governance, then find a buyer who wants the brand.

Ibrahim AlMoaiqel, assistant deputy minister for investment and privatisation, told a London forum in June that 11 club transactions had closed with two more underway, and more than 40 local and international investors had registered interest, according to reporting by Enterprise KSA. Five further clubs went on offer the same month.

What happens next after PIF acquires Saudi football club stakes

The logic behind all of it sits inside the Saudi Vision 2030 sports sector plan, which Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman set out to widen the economy beyond oil. Sport and entertainment carry part of that weight. The 2034 World Cup, which Saudi Arabia is preparing to host, tightens the clock, since a club bought today should be worth more once the league grows ahead of the tournament.

Each time PIF acquires Saudi football club stakes, the fund edges closer to handing the clubs over completely. What arrives with the new owners is harder to read. Budgets have tightened across the league, and Enterprise KSA reports transfer spending this summer sits far below the 2023 peak, when Saudi clubs pulled stars out of Europe at speed.

So the shares move, the paperwork clears, and the boardroom empties out. For the crowd in the stands, the real question is who walks in next.

  • 3 min read
CBUAE's Financial Stability Report
  • UAE Banking

CBUAE’s Financial Stability Report puts numbers behind something many people in the UAE already sense: that banks are lending more freely than they did a few years ago. UAE banking sector assets grew 17.1 percent in 2025 to AED5.3 trillion, worth roughly $1.44 trillion. Loans rose faster still, up 17.8 percent. Most of that credit stayed inside the country. Retail customers and private companies took on the bulk of it.

For anyone who has applied for a mortgage, a car loan, or working capital for a small shop, this is what a growing loan book feels like. Credit gets easier to reach. Approvals come through more often. Banks compete harder for your business.

Loan quality improved alongside the volume. The non-performing loan ratio fell to 3.3 percent in 2025, down from 4.7 percent a year earlier. In 2020, it stood at 8.2 percent. Lending more while getting repaid more reliably is an unusual pairing, and it points to households and firms in better financial shape.

Profits and the cushion behind them

Net profits climbed 11.7 percent to AED90.8 billion, about $24.7 billion, helped by higher operating income. The capital adequacy ratio finished the year at 17 percent, above the regulatory minimum. Deposits kept flowing in, so liquidity stayed comfortable.

Think of a capital ratio the way you would think of a household emergency fund. The bigger the buffer, the longer a bank can take losses without cutting off customers.

CBUAE’s Financial Stability Report also covers what happens if conditions turn ugly. Supervisory stress tests run during 2025 modelled a severe economic shock. Under the adverse scenario, the average Common Equity Tier 1 ratio slipped from 14.1 percent to a low of 11.1 percent, staying above the regulatory floor for the whole test period.

What CBUAE’s Financial Stability Report says about payments

CBUAE’s Financial Stability Report tracks how money moves as well as where it sits. The Aani instant payment platform carried around 183 percent more transactions in 2025 than in 2024, and enrolled users passed 11.7 million by the end of December. Aani lets you send up to AED50,000 at any hour of the day, with QR payments, payment requests and split bills built in.

The Jaywan card scheme runs alongside it as the national card network. Both sit inside the Financial Infrastructure Transformation Programme, the central bank’s plan for rebuilding the country’s payment rails. Work on cross-border payments continues under the same programme.

Beyond the big banks

CBUAE’s Financial Stability Report describes steady conditions across Islamic banking and insurance too. A legal change sits underneath all of this. Federal Decree-Law No. 6 of 2025 consolidated the rules covering banks and insurers, reinforced the central bank’s independence, and named the CBUAE as the country’s Resolution Authority, the body that steps in when a financial firm fails.

Khaled Mohamed Balama, Governor of the CBUAE, said the report “affirms the strength and resilience of the UAE financial system and its ability to continue supporting the national economy efficiently.” He said the central bank will keep tightening its supervisory and prudential frameworks and preparing the system for risks still ahead.

For savers and borrowers, the practical read is simple. Banks have room to lend, buffers to absorb trouble, and payment tools that clear money in seconds rather than days. What the next report shows will depend on whether credit growth near 18 percent holds without loan quality slipping back.

  • 3 min read
UAE Islamic finance strategy
  • Finance

The UAE Islamic finance strategy sets a target of Dh2.56 trillion in local Islamic bank assets by 2031, part of a wider effort to root Shari’ah-compliant finance deeper in the national economy. Islamic banking assets in the country stood at Dh1.4 trillion as of June 2026, and 43 Islamic financial institutions now hold licences. The UAE ranked third worldwide in the Islamic Finance Development Indicator for 2025. Those figures give the plan a base to build from.

Targets under the plan sit inside the UAE Strategy for Islamic Finance and Halal Industry 2025 to 2031, which the Cabinet approved in May 2025. The Central Bank of the UAE is coordinating with federal and local bodies to tie Islamic finance and the halal industry more closely to the broader economic agenda. Two goals run through it. Scale the sector, and give it firmer legal ground.

Clearer rules under the UAE Islamic finance strategy

Much of the UAE Islamic finance strategy turns on legal and Shari’ah certainty. The Commercial Transactions Law, Federal Decree-Law No. 50 of 2022, carries a dedicated chapter on Islamic finance contracts and financing arrangements. It ties parts of the law to Shari’ah standards issued by the Higher Shari’ah Authority and sets out how to read those provisions and settle disputes. Once the Higher Shari’ah Authority approves them, the Central Bank can issue regulations of its own.

The framework works toward clearer rights and obligations, standard Shari’ah interpretations, and fewer legal disputes tied to Islamic financial transactions. For customers and banks alike, that means fewer grey areas.

Costs and supervision

The Central Bank Law, Federal Decree-Law No. 6 of 2025, governs how Islamic financial institutions operate and how supervisors oversee them. Under its terms, these institutions can handle transactions involving real estate and goods where a Shari’ah-compliant structure calls for it. The law also exempts Islamic financial transactions from registration requirements and similar fees or costs. Customer protection ranks among the framework’s stated goals, next to stronger trust in Islamic finance services and a legal setting that supports new products.

Established at the Central Bank in 2018, the Higher Shari’ah Authority works to bring Shari’ah practice into line across institutions. It has issued more than 280 standards and resolutions to govern Islamic financial transactions and narrow differences in interpretation, along with more than nine Shari’ah governance standards. Prudential standards covering financial integrity, risk management and stability complete the supervisory base.

Beyond banking

The UAE Islamic finance strategy reaches past the banks. Plans under it develop the market for sukuk, Islamic money markets and Islamic funds, while backing larger and more competitive institutions. Sukuk issuances form a central part of that ambition. The plan also draws Islamic finance in the UAE closer to the halal economy. It calls for more local production of high-value halal goods, a halal traceability system to support re-exports, and added backing for SMEs and technology startups in the sector.

Set against the region, the direction fits a pattern. Islamic finance in the UAE is shifting from a parallel channel toward a core part of how the economy raises and moves capital. The UAE Islamic finance strategy puts a number and a date on that move, and Dh2.56 trillion is the figure to watch.

  • 3 min read
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