UAE Will Guarantee Bank Deposits

By REEM SHAMSEDDINE and ANDREW CRITCHLOW | Zawya Dow Jones Newswires DUBAI -- Oil-rich Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates acted Sunday to support their financial systems amid concern that the global economic crisis is spreading to the Middle East's two largest Arab economies. Mohammed Al-Jasser, deputy governor at the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency, or SAMA, told Zawya Dow Jones that 150 billion Saudi riyals ($40 billion) was available to help the kingdom's banks if required. SAMA, the region's largest and most influential central bank, also cut its repurchase rate on borrowing by 50 basis points after a coordinated move last week by central banks around the world to ease lending charges. Mr. Jasser said in a phone interview from Riyadh that "the global financial crisis is extremely serious but luckily we're not that... [read full story]