Briefs

Briefs

One-Window Facilitation Desk

ISLAMABAD: Gwadar Airport will have One-Window Facilitation Desk by October this year to provide all necessary information to Overseas Pakistanis before their departure to different countries, ensuring their safe travel.

The facilitation desk is being established on the directives of the Federal Ombudsman, Grievance Commissioner for Overseas Pakistanis to Federal Ombudsman Hafiz Ahsan Ahmad Khokhar said on Friday.

Talking to APP, he said eight facilitation desks for overseas Pakistanis were earlier established at Islamabad, Lahore, Karachi, Peshawar, Quetta, Multan, Sialkot and Faisalabad airports.

Now the next facilitation desk will be set up at Gwadar Airport to help overseas Pakistanis resolve their minor, as well as major issues, he said. Khokhar said the facilitation desks for expats at eight airports have received overall 32,476 complaints since they have started operations, including 947 formal complaints.

The complaints were instantly resolved through a mechanism devised by the Federal Ombudsman, he added. A total of 455 complaints were received from the facilitation desk at the Islamabad Airport, 298 from Lahore, 173 from Karachi, 11 from Peshawar, one from Quetta, six from Multan and seven from Sialkot.

Khokhar said that the complaints filed by the overseas Pakistanis were mostly related to lost luggage and issues related to passport and National Identity Card for Overseas Pakistanis (NICOP), etc.

Etihad gets best airline award

News Desk

KARACHI: Etihad Airways has been named “Best International Airline – Offline” at the 2016 Travel Agents’ Association of New Zealand (TAANZ) National Travel Industry Awards held in Auckland on September 10, a statement said.

Voted for by the New Zealand travel industry, the award recognises the airline’s world-class product and services. Etihad Airways’ General Manager for Australia and New Zealand, Sarah Built, who accepted the award on the airline’s behalf said: “I’d like to thank our travel industry partners throughout New Zealand for their vote of confidence and ongoing support.”

“I’d also like to thank the team at The Walshe Group, our General Sales Agent in New Zealand, for their tireless efforts in representing Etihad Airways in the market.”

Phoenix in talks to buy Abbey Life

LONDON: Phoenix Group Holdings, Britain´s largest owner of life assurance funds closed to new customers, said it was in advanced discussions with Deutsche Bank AG about the possible acquisition of the German lender´s British insurance business, Abbey Life Assurance.

Deutsche Bank was nearing a deal to sell the business to Phoenix, a person close to the matter told Reuters on Thursday.

Phoenix is planning to raise 800 million pounds ($1.06 billion) to fund the purchase, which will be finalised in the next couple of weeks, the person said. Phoenix said on Friday that it continued to explore further acquisition opportunities in the UK closed life sector.

Phoenix CEO Clive Bannister told Reuters in August that the company was scouting for acquisitions to help gain scale in a challenging, low interest rate environment after Brexit. Regulatory changes and rock bottom interest rates had ramped up pressure on industry players to deal with their legacy books, leading many to consider putting them up for sale.

The interest rate cut that followed Britain´s vote to leave the European Union has also squeezed returns on investments for companies that manage closed life insurers. Deutsche Bank began weighing the sale of Abbey Life in October last year, attracting interest from Swiss Re AG unit Admin Re, Phoenix and Legal & General Group Plc among others, sources familiar with the matter have told Reuters. Abbey Life, which was bought by Deutsche Bank for 977 million pounds in 2007, is valued at about 1 billion pounds ($1.5 billion), sources told Reuters in June.

John Menzies buys aircraft services

LONDON: UK airport services and logistics group John Menzies Plc said it would buy peer BBA Aviation Plc´s ASIG commercial aircraft services unit in a deal worth $202 million, taking a major step in consolidating a fragmented industry.

Menzies said the deal, which is expected to materially enhance its earnings in the first full year, would be funded via a 75 million pound ($99 million) fully underwritten rights issue and a new debt package.

The ASIG unit provides refuelling, baggage handling, equipment maintenance and de-icing services across 80 airports in North America, Central America, Europe and Asia. BBA said separately the disposal of ASIG, one if its smaller units, would allow it to streamline its business to focus on its main businesses.

Singapore exports stall

SINGAPORE: Singapore´s exports in August stalled and though sales to the United States picked up, underlying weakness in overseas demand is expected to maintain pressure for further stimulus to shore up the stuttering trade-dependent economy.

Non-oil domestic exports (NODX) registered flat growth last month from a year earlier, the trade agency International Enterprise Singapore said in a statement on Friday.

While that was better than the median forecast of a 4.1 percent slump in a Reuters poll and a 10.6 percent loss in July, the overall picture was one of slack offshore demand.

On a month-on-month, seasonally adjusted basis, exports declined 1.9 percent in August, beating a forecast of a 2.9 percent fall in the survey.

"It´s flat year on year for August but whether we actually get the pick up going into the fourth quarter, which is traditionally the peak season, not quite sure whether that´s going to materialise in a very strong way yet," said Selena Ling, head of treasury research and strategy for OCBC Bank.

The city-state´s economy has been hit by weak global demand, while domestic challenges such as a labour shortage have dragged on growth.

In August, Singapore cut its 2016 economic growth forecast to 1-2 percent from the previous forecast of 1-3 percent expansion, leaving the door open for additional policy stimulus.