10 Established 1961 Sunday, January 24, 2021 Business KIB named ‘Best Shariah-Compliant Bank, Fastest Growing Islamic Bank’ Bank nabs two CFI.co awards from Capital Finance KUWAIT: As a testament to its efforts to provide KIB, Raed Jawad Bukhamseen, expressed his pride and qualified it to win these awards with merit. 2020, aligned with their state-of-the-art Islamic banking solutions together at KIB’s continuing to garner this prestigious Over the past few months, KIB launched seven digital transformation, with the best customer experience, KIB recently acclaim, highlighting the success of the Bank’s new new e-banking services that enable customers to was the restructuring and garnered two awards from Capital Finance digital transformation strategy and its quest to complete multiple transactions through the 24- launch of two branches at International (CFI.co), Fastest Growing Islamic become the first e-bank in Kuwait. “KIB is always hour call center, in addition to a mobile app fea- eMall and 89 Mall; featur- Bank and Best Sharia-Compliant Bank (MENA keen to provide a comprehensive range of shariah- ture that allows digital registration with the Kuwait ing a contemporary 2020), This marks the fifth consecutive year of KIB compliant services and products, as well as to Clearing Company to receive direct-deposit divi- design, state-of-the-art being named Fastest Growing Islamic Bank and enhance its technological base and introduce new dends in customers’ accounts instead of having to ATMs and devices with sixth consecutive year of being named Best e-banking solutions with the aim to satisfy the pick up a check in person. Moreover, KIB has interactive touchscreens Sharia-Compliant by CFI.co, an organization spe- largest possible segment of customers and provide revamped its website and introduced an innovative that allow customers to cializing in the finance and banking sectors. products and services uniquely designed to suit visual IVR service in addition to ‘Live Chat’ serv- navigate through menu The bank was evaluated by a judging panel the needs of their contemporary lifestyle, which ice, which provides customers with access to serv- options as if they were according to several key criteria, including its out- demonstrates the Bank’s steadfast growth and ices via a visual interface, in addition the instant using their smartphones. Raed Jawad Bukhamseen standing financial performance despite the leading role in the local financial sector, particular- card issuance service across main branches. Additionally, KIB staff COVID-19 pandemic that gravely wounded the ly amidst the pandemic where the Bank continued With the aim and ensuring customers’ safety roam the open-plan branches with iPads to answer world economy, in addition to its ability to manage to serve its customers remotely and meet their and comfort in the wake of the coronavirus out- client various queries. risks and serve customers without any delay day-to-day banking needs.” break, the Bank developed an app that allows cus- It serves to note that CFI.co is an international, amidst the coronavirus crisis. Moreover, KIB Bukhamseen also pointed out that KIB always tomers to pre-book appointments via Q-Matic on independent assessment body specializing in earned double recognition as a result of its con- strives to deliver an easy and convenient banking their smartphones. Moreover, self-service devices finance and banking. A prominent, London-based tinued innovation and creativity in providing the experience to its customers, while also keeping known as “PACI KIOSK” were provided at a num- organization, CFI.co combines views from leading best advanced e-banking solutions and its keen- them safe against the potential risks of in-person ber of branches of the bank to help customers multilateral and national organizations with ness to serve the community in at all times, in banking, stressing that these shifts helped the Bank update their data and create an approved digital thought leadership from some of the world’s top addition to playing a leading role in designing e- satisfy its existing customers and expand its cus- signature for individuals, in addition to an instant minds to bring news, analysis and commentary on banking solutions uniquely tailored to suit the tomer base. In addition, these recently implement- card issuance service available across the Bank’s markets worldwide. CFI.co also seeks out individ- needs of their contemporary lifestyle. ed business models have strengthened the Bank’s branches. uals and organizations that contribute significantly On this occasion, Vice Chairman and CEO of position in the local and regional banking arena Key milestones achieved by KIB for the year to the convergence of economies.

Clearing such garbage clumps has become a regular Trash islands bring activity for dam operators, though the recent mass- es were larger than normal. “We can’t solve this problem, we can only repair Small farmers ‘need Balkan waste crisis it-we pick up the garbage that the municipalities leave on the banks,” said Tomislav Popovic, who more climate aid to to the surface works at the power plant on the Drina, where objects ranging from television sets to an old foot- PRIBOJ, Serbia: Framed by rolling hills and farm- ball were conjoined together in the island of trash. ward off famines’: UN houses, the emerald waters of Potpecko lake were “We have even seen images of bulldozers push- PARIS: Climate aid to millions of small farmers once a picturesque fishing spot in western Serbia. ing garbage right into the river,” he told AFP, adding around the world must “substantially increase” to But recently, the smell itself was enough to turn that the dam collects some 8,000 cubic meters of ward off hunger and instability, a United Nations away visitors from a reservoir filled with a sprawling waste annually. This picture taken on January 14, 2021, shows an ille- body warned yesterday. Small farmers “do little mass of trash-one of several enormous build-ups in gal dumpsite near the city of Struga. The Western to cause climate change, but suffer the most from the region that have brought the Balkans’ garbage Hazardous waste crisis into plain view. Across the region, effective waste management is Balkans are home to some of Europe’s wildest rivers its impacts,” Gilbert F. Houngbo, President of the and most pristine tracts of nature. But failing waste International Fund for Agricultural Development “It’s very ugly,” sighed Milomir Mijovic, a 34- held back by low budgets, outdated infrastructure year-old who lives nearby, as he stood near the and a lack of urgency among officials and parts of management systems across the region are threaten- (IFAD) said in a statement. ing the environment and public health. —AFP “If investments... do not substantially increase, shore of the lake whose waters were hidden the public. Recycling is minimal in most states, while we risk widespread hunger and global instabili- beneath an 8,000 cubic meter spread of plastic illegal dumpsites are a common eyesore along rural ty,” IFAD added. Houngbo said small farmers’ bottles, styrofoam and other detritus, frozen togeth- roads and on the outskirts of towns and cities. the copper inside. “The negative influence of these “increasingly common crop failures and livestock er with sticks and mud. “I have seven children and I In North Macedonia, scenic mountain views are illegal landfills is huge,” said Dejan Dimitrovski, a deaths put our entire food system at risk”, warn- am sad not to be able to take them fishing, or come often marred by plastic bags caught on tree limbs 45-year-old council member in Skopje’s Gazi Baba ing that “hunger, poverty and migration will here in summer to the beach,” he said. or heaps of roadside trash, ranging from building municipality. become even more widespread” without The Western Balkans are home to some of materials to discarded sofas and washing machines. An environmental activist, Dimitrovski helped increased aid. Europe’s wildest rivers and most pristine tracts of Illegal dumps also encircle the capital Skopje. expose a scandal in 2019 after he filmed a company The UN body’s warning comes ahead of a cli- nature. But failing waste management systems Just five kilometers (three miles) northwest of the failing to properly treat medical waste-including mate adaptation summit on January 25 and 26 in across the region are threatening the environment city center is a wasteland full of bathtubs, textiles, syringes and vials of blood-before dumping it into the Netherlands. At the gathering, IFAD plans to and public health. Heavy rains in January highlight- plastic packaging and car parts. Skopje’s official landfill. It is the only landfill in the launch a new $500-million fund dubbed ASAP+ ed the long-running problem after floods swept In the Vardarishte area to the east, a once-official country to meet the EU’s minimum standards. “to reduce climate change threats to food securi- garbage from roadsides and other illegal dumps landfill that was closed 26 years ago is now an ille- In another recent video shown to AFP, he con- ty, lower greenhouse gases and help more than into rivers. gal dump that stretches some 170,000 square fronted a man who tried to toss large of bags of 10 million people adapt to weather changes”. The trash accumulated at hydro-power dams, meters (42 acres). It sits less than one kilometer trash outside his car. It is as if North Macedonia Austria, Germany, Ireland and Qatar have such as in Potpecko which is part of the Lim river away from urban neighborhoods. Fires from the site “built ourselves an apartment, but did not build a already said they will contribute. British actor that flows down from Montenegro, as well as at a pump add to Skopje’s smog, sending up toxic fumes toilet for that apartment”, he said of the country’s Idris Elba and his wife Sandrine, both IFAD dam in the scenic Drina river in eastern Bosnia. as locals burn objects like cables to extract and sell inadequate waste management. —AFP “Goodwill Ambassadors”, will take part in a debate at the summit with Belgian Prime Minister the verdict was a “big injustice”. “I will be appealing Alexander de Croo. IFAD-funded research fore- Diamond magnate immediately,” he said in a statement, complaining that casts a potential fall in production of staples like he had faced “10 years of manipulation and lies”. beans, maize, and cassava of between 50 and 90 His lawyer Marc Bonnant told reporters the appeal percent by 2050 across much of sub-Saharan gets 5 years in prison would be filed soon, citing “contradictions and errors” Africa due to climate change, “which would in the ruling. The trial, which began on January 11, was result in substantial increases in hunger and in Swiss graft trial the culmination of a drawn-out international investiga- poverty”. tion that kicked off in Switzerland in 2013. “Climate change could push more than 140 Swiss prosecutors accused Steinmetz and two part- GENEVA: French-Israeli diamond magnate Beny million people to migrate” over the same period, ners of bribing a wife of the then Guinean president Steinmetz was sentenced by a Geneva court on Friday the studies found. IFAD’s earlier ASAP program Lansana Conte and others in order to win mining rights to five years behind bars for corruption linked to mining has already distributed $300 million to more in the southeastern Simandou region. rights in Guinea. After a seven-year international inves- than five million farmers in 41 countries. But the The prosecutors said Steinmetz obtained the rights tigation, the 64-year-old businessman was accused of body notes that only 1.7 percent of global climate shortly before Conte died in 2008 after about $10 mil- setting up a complex financial web to pay bribes so that GENEVA: French-Israeli diamond magnate Beny finance goes to small-scale farmers in developing lion (8.2 million euros) was paid in bribes over a num- Beny Steinmetz Group Resources (BSGR) could obtain Steinmetz (center) reacts next to his lawyers Camille countries. —AFP ber of years, some through Swiss bank accounts. permits in an area estimated to contain the world’s Haab (left) and Marc Bonnant after the verdict of a tri- Conte’s military dictatorship ordered global mining biggest untapped deposits of iron ore. al over alleged corruption linked to mining deals in giant Rio Tinto to relinquish two concessions to BSGR “It is clear from what has been presented... that the Guinea, in Geneva on Friday. —AFP for around $170 million in 2008. rights were obtained through corruption and that Just 18 months later, BSGR sold 51 percent of its Steinmetz cooperated with others” to obtain them, said Nissan commits stake in the concession to Brazilian mining giant Vale for States as a state witness. chief justice Alexandra Banna. $2.5 billion. But in 2013, Guinea’s first democratically- She and a number of other key witnesses in the case The court, she said, had therefore sentenced him “to elected president Alpha Conde launched a review of failed to appear. Steinmetz, who lived in Geneva during to UK after a deprivation of liberty for five years”, in line with the permits allotted under Conte and later stripped the VBG the years when the bribes were allegedly paid, insisted prosecutors’ request. The court also granted the prose- consortium formed by BSGR and Vale, of its permit. during his trial that he “never” asked anyone to pay Brexit trade deal cution’s call for Steinmetz to pay 50 million Swiss Toure, insisting she “told a lot of lies”. But on Friday, francs ($56 million, 46 million euros) in compensation ‘Pact of corruption’ judge Banna found that “the money paid to Mamadie to the Geneva canton. LONDON: Japanese carmaker Nissan on Friday To secure the initial deal, prosecutors claimed Toure did indeed originate from BSGR.” committed to its future in Britain, home to the Steinmetz and representatives in Guinea entered a She also said that there had been no reason for ‘Big injustice’ group’s largest European factory, citing the coun- “pact of corruption” with Conte and his fourth wife Conte to withdraw Rio Tinto’s mining concessions Steinmetz, who throughout the trial has maintained try’s Brexit trade deal with the European Union. Mamadie Toure. Toure, who has admitted to having “unless it benefitted him personally or someone else, his innocence, told reporters at the Geneva courthouse Chief operating officer Ashwani Gupta said the received payments, has protected status in the United namely his fourth wife.” —AFP recent agreement gave its Sunderland plant in northeast England a competitive advantage, dis- pelling long-running uncertainty over the facility. But many of the world’s major dams fail on one or In 2019, record flooding sparked concern that “Brexit has brought the business continuity in the UN: World’s ageing more of these criteria. Dozens have suffered major Mosul Dam, Iraq’s largest, could fail. Ageing dams short term (and) protects... all of our models which damage or outright collapse over the last two not only pose a greater risk to downstream popula- we manufacture in Sunderland,” Gupta was quoted decades in the United States, India, Brazil, tions, but also become less efficient at generating as saying by UK media. big dams pose Afghanistan and other countries, and the number of electricity, and far more expensive to maintain. Nissan had previously warned that a no-deal such failures could increase, the report warned. Because the number of large dams under construc- Brexit would threaten its Sunderland factory, which ‘emerging risk’ Compounding the risk in ways that have yet to be tion or planned has dropped sharply since the 1960s manufactures models including the Juke, Leaf and fully measured is global warming. “Because of cli- and 1970s, these problems will multiply in coming Qashqai. However, Britain’s largely foreign-owned PARIS: By 2050, more than half the global popula- mate change, extreme rainfall and flooding events are years, the report showed. “There won’t be another automotive sector was a big winner from the free tion will live downstream from tens of thousands of becoming more frequent,” lead author Duminda dam-building revolution, so the average age of dams trade Brexit agreement, which allows for smooth large dams near or past their intended lifespan, Perera, a researcher at the University of Ottawa and is getting older,” said Perera. tariff-free trade with the continent. Nissan’s according to a UN report released Friday. McMaster University, said in an interview. This not “Due to new energy sources coming online-solar, Sunderland hub employs 6,000 workers, and pro- Most of the world’s nearly 59,000 big dams-con- only increases the risk of reservoirs overflowing but wind-a lot of planned hydroelectric dams will prob- duces 400,000 cars annually, mostly for export. structed between 1930 and 1970 — were designed also accelerates the build-up of sediment, which ably not ever be built.” A global fleet of nearly Gupta added that Nissan would switch battery to last 50 to 100 years, according to research from affects dam safety, reduces water storage capacity, 60,000 ageing dams also highlights the challenge of production for its electric Leaf vehicles from the UN University’s Institute for Water, Environment and lowers energy production in hydroelectric dams. dismantling-or “decommissioning”-those that are no Japan to Britain, to benefit from the zero tariffs. and Health. “This is an emerging global risk that we longer safe or functional. UK electric car exports will however face tariffs are not yet paying attention to,” co-author and ‘Catastrophic consequences’ Several dozen have been torn down in the United from 2027 if they do not have a majority of com- Institute director Vladimir Smakhtin told AFP. In February 2017, the spillways of California’s States, but all of them small, Smakhtin said. More ponents sourced from either Britain or the “In terms of dams at risk, the number is growing Oroville Dam-the tallest in the US-were damaged than 90 percent of large dams-at least 15 metres European Union. “Sunderland is one of the top year by year, decade by decade.” A well-designed, during heavy rainfall, prompting the emergency from foundation to crest, or holding back no less three plants in the world for competitiveness for constructed and maintained dam can easily remain evacuation of more than 180,000 people down- than three million cubic meters of water-are located Nissan,” noted Gupta. —AFP functional for a century. stream. in only two dozen countries. —AFP