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Article: Banking beehive builds a honeypot. (includes related article) (MEED Special Report: UAE Banking) (Industry Overview)
- Article from:
- MEED Middle East Economic Digest
- Article date:
- August 5, 1994
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1994 MEED Middle East Economic Digest. All Rights Reserved. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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IT IS a comfortable two-hour car drive from Abu Dhabi to Dubai, but more than distance separates the federal capital of the UAE from the Gulf's busiest entrepot.
Abu Dhabi's high-rise office blocks contrast with the busy conurbation that sprawls north and south of Dubai creek. The economy of the capital is sedately driven by government and oil. Business in Dubai rides the market like a sailing boat trying to catch a fickle breeze.
In financial services, the divide matters a lot and a little at the same time. All banks in the federation are governed by the same law. Yet those in Abu Dhabi dance to a tune that the government chooses, while in Dubai, banks march ...