Happy Monday everyone!

Multilateral bank facilities, cryptocurrency security recoveries, and small-business credit expansions highlight major regional business news today. The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) injected $4 billion into three major Egyptian lenders to support foreign trade and working capital, part of a wider $10 billion national funding plan for 2026. In digital assets, Binance restarted customer withdrawals across major tokens and twelve blockchains after hackers tied to North Korea's TraderTraitor group stole over $6 billion. Meanwhile, UAE digital lender Beehive expects loan approvals to hit a record AED 150 million in October as small-business borrowing recovers from earlier supply-chain freezes.

Markets

Afreximbank Injects $4 Billion into 3 Egyptian Lenders to Back Trade and Gold Refining

🔹 What Is It About 

Cairo-headquartered Afreximbank injected $4 billion in financing into three Egyptian banks—National Bank of Egypt, Banque Misr, and Arab African International Bank—marking a 300% jump over last year's figures. The capital provides liquidity for trade finance, small enterprises, and major domestic infrastructure firms, with individual company facilities reaching up to $1.5 billion. The multilateral lender confirmed it is also advancing a $50 million to $100 million gold refinery in Egypt alongside a specialized continental gold bank agreed with the Central Bank of Egypt.

• Backing Three Major Banks: Afreximbank deployed $4 billion across National Bank of Egypt, Banque Misr, and AAIB.

• Expanding Sovereign Funding: Total bank funding in Egypt reached $9 billion this year, targeting $10 billion by year-end.

• Building Gold Infrastructure: Plans are moving ahead for a domestic gold refinery and a specialized pan-African gold bank.

🔹 Why It Matters 

Injecting foreign currency into state and commercial banks provides essential liquidity for Egyptian importers and contractors navigating global currency constraints. Establishing a domestic gold refinery and bullion storage facility reduces dependence on European trading hubs while helping African central banks store gold locally. Multilateral funding ensures large infrastructure works continue without draining domestic commercial bank reserves.

• Supplying Dollar Liquidity: Foreign trade facilities help local lenders finance import letters of credit and SME loans.

• Retaining Gold Value: A localized gold bank allows African central banks to manage reserves on the continent.

🔹 What’s Next 

Afreximbank and the Central Bank of Egypt will begin initial engineering works on the gold refinery by year-end, targeting production by 2027 or 2028. Lenders will deploy received credit lines to domestic corporate clients across export and manufacturing sectors.

• Breaking Ground on Refinery: Construction teams will prepare designated free-zone sites for the planned bullion refinery.

• Allocating SME Credit: Egyptian partner banks will distribute trade finance facilities to local import-export firms.

RAKIS 2026 Set for November 11–12

Less than a month remains until RAKIS 2026 brings investors, developers, government leaders and business executives to Ras Al Khaimah.

The summit, taking place on November 11–12 at the RAK Exhibition Centre, will focus on investment opportunities and partnerships across real estate, infrastructure, tourism, technology and sustainable development.

The event aims to connect decision-makers and industry experts to discuss the opportunities shaping the emirate’s next phase of economic growth.

Organisers are inviting delegates to register for a free pass ahead of the event.

Register for your free delegate pass here.

Binance Restores Withdrawals in Phases Following Record $6B Cyber Attack

🔹 What Is It About 

Cryptocurrency exchange Binance began reopening customer withdrawals after cybercriminals stole more than $6 billion in digital tokens, an operation US federal investigators attributed to North Korea's "TraderTraitor" unit. The exchange suspended processing for more than two days before initiating phased withdrawals for Bitcoin and 15 other tokens, including Ether, USDT, and USDC. Withdrawals have resumed across 12 networks, including Ethereum and BNB Smart Chain, as technical teams complete stability and security reviews.

• Resuming Phase Withdrawals: Binance restored access for 16 primary cryptocurrencies after a two-day system freeze.

• Tracking Stolen Capital: The FBI reported stolen assets were swapped into Ether and routed toward decentralized finance protocols.

🔹 Why It Matters 

A $6 billion security breach at the world's largest crypto exchange tests confidence across digital asset markets and centralized trading venues. Investigators tracking rapid asset swaps through decentralized protocols demonstrates how nation-state actors evade financial blockades. Enforcing strict blacklists across global exchanges is critical to freezing stolen tokens before they enter fiat banking systems.

• Pressuring Digital Platforms: Regulatory bodies are pressing global exchanges to flag and freeze addresses linked to the breach.

🔹 What’s Next 

Binance security personnel will bring remaining token networks online as verification audits finish. Blockchain analytics teams will assist international law enforcement agencies in monitoring decentralized swapping routes to freeze compromised assets.

• Reconnecting Remaining Chains: Technical teams will restore full withdrawal functionality across smaller network layers.

Dubai International Content Market (DICM) returns to Madinat Jumeirah, Dubai

The Dubai International Content Market (DICM) returns to Madinat Jumeirah, Dubai, on 10-11 November 2026, bringing together international distributors, broadcasters, streaming platforms, producers, buyers and industry professionals for two days of business, networking and content discovery. 

With 800+ participants from 55+ countries, 80+ global distributors and studios, and 150+ buyers, DICM provides a platform to explore new content, acquire and license titles, develop co-production opportunities and build partnerships across the MENA region and beyond.

 Through the Content Business Hub (CBH), participants can preview content, discover catalogues and arrange one-to-one meetings ahead of the market, while DICM Talks brings industry voices together to discuss the trends, challenges and opportunities shaping the content business.

 Registration is open. Join us in Dubai to connect with the right people, discover new opportunities and be part of the conversations driving the industry forward. Register now

Beehive Sees UAE Small-Business Lending Hit Record AED 150 Million as Credit Freezes Thaw

🔹 What Is It About 

UAE alternative business lender Beehive expects to approve roughly AED 150 million in small-business loans in October, marking its highest monthly volume on record. Chief Executive Officer Peter Tavener noted that demand has transitioned from emergency working capital to business expansion, with overdue loan rates falling back to 2.5% after peaking near 6% during the summer. The platform, backed by a funding facility supported by Goldman Sachs and Magellan Capital, targets firms with annual revenues between AED 5 million and AED 50 million.

• Hitting Lending Peaks: Beehive expects October loan approvals to reach a record AED 150 million.

• Easing Borrower Stress: Loans overdue between five and 30 days dropped from 6% in July back to 2.5%.

🔹 Why It Matters 

A rebound in small-business borrowing signals that regional commercial activity is picking up despite elevated container shipping rates and delivery delays. Alternative digital lenders help bridge working capital shortfalls created by extended payment terms, where local clients often take up to 180 days to settle invoices. Expanding credit lines to small businesses provides liquidity for companies unable to secure traditional bank loans, which account for less than 10% of total bank lending.

🔹 What’s Next 

Beehive plans to increase its monthly UAE loan approvals past AED 200 million by the second quarter of 2027. Lending managers will deploy funds from their AED 2 billion facility while maintaining underwriting limits on high-risk commercial trading accounts.

• Targeting AED 200M Volume: Executive teams will scale credit allocations toward domestic manufacturing and service firms.

Smashi Business Exclusive: Rentify Is Betting on AI Agents to Transform the UAE Rental Market

The UAE’s rental market is changing. Tenants are looking for greater flexibility, landlords want higher occupancy and better yields, and technology is increasingly shaping how properties are managed.

For UAE-based proptech startup Rentify, the next opportunity lies beyond finding tenants and signing leases. It is in managing everything that happens afterwards.

“Rental is becoming a data business and the operators who use that data are setting the pace,” co-founder Rajneel Kumar told Smashi Business exclusively describing the shift in the market.

Co-founded by Emirati co-founder Rashed Hareb Al Mheiri alongside Rajneel Kumar, Rentify initially set out to make rent more flexible and rewarding for tenants. But the business has since evolved into a broader property technology platform, using the data generated through rent payments to develop AI-powered tools for landlords and property operators.

“Payments gave us the data. Today Earn AI supports 180,000+ units and USD 3.4 billion+ in annual rent,” Rajneel said.

The company's next phase focuses on automating property operations, an area the founders believe remains underdeveloped despite the digital transformation of property leasing.

“The biggest opportunity is after the lease is signed: collections, renewals and service,” Rashed said.

Rentify is addressing that opportunity through Earn AI and Ally, its standalone AI maintenance agent. Ally is designed to manage maintenance requests from the moment a tenant reports an issue until the job is completed, while keeping tenants informed throughout the process. “Maintenance is where tenants feel great service most. Ally delivers faster fixes and keeps every tenant updated,” Rashed said.

Rajneel said making Ally a standalone product allows property operators to activate it without having to overhaul their existing systems. The agent can manage the entire maintenance workflow, from request to closure.

The founders also point to a growing willingness among landlords, tenants and property management teams to embrace automation. “How quickly landlords and tenants embrace technology when it makes life easier,” was one of Rashed's biggest surprises.

Rajneel said the adoption of AI has also been faster than expected, with teams initially reviewing every action before gradually allowing agents to operate independently.

That ambition is now backed by fresh capital. Rentify recently raised a USD 2 million seed round, taking its total funding to USD 2.5 million. The company plans to use the capital to develop additional AI agents and expand across the GCC. “Our USD 2 million seed round takes total funding to USD 2.5 million. Investor confidence is strong,” Rashed said.

For Rajneel, the investment case comes down to the underlying business model: recurring rental income and the opportunity to build technology around it “Recurring rent gives investors a powerful foundation to back,” he said.

As the UAE's property market continues to mature, Rentify is betting that the next big proptech opportunity will not simply be helping people rent homes, but making the business of managing them smarter.

👨‍💻From Smashi Business’ Desk

• Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) CEO Mohammed Saif Al-Sowaidi has publicly addressed the sovereign wealth fund’s participation in the $110 billion Skydance-Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery deal for the first time.⁠

• Egyptian-American creator Kareem, the man behind viral interview series @subwaytakes, has been named one of just 25 winners of the 2026 Instagram Rings Awards.

• A $12 chicken sandwich has sparked a debate over wealth and inequality in Lebanon.

• An Islamic brokerage founder says Anthropic wouldn’t make the cut on his app.

• An Emirati AI company has outperformed Microsoft, ElevenLabs, Google and OpenAI in Arabic speech recognition accuracy.

🔍In other news…

• UAE Citizen CZ Says ‘I Don’t Make Threats’ After Musk Trolls Binance Hack

• Aston Villa Threatens Legal Action Against Jamie Carragher Over ‘Unacceptable Insults’

• Mubadala Ventures Chief Ibrahim Ajami Exits to Launch New AI Fund Noha

• Lebanese Dating App Taaruf Reaches 80,000 Monthly Users, Lands $400,000 Shark Tank Offer

• UAE Announces New Petrol and Diesel Prices for November 2026

🦄 World of Startups

• NoorNation: Egypt-based cleantech startup NoorNation raised $1.05 million in seed funding from Linah Farms, Catalyst Fund and KBW Ventures to expand its solar-powered irrigation and desalination solutions.

• Silkhaus: UAE-based short-term rental startup Silkhaus is winding down its holiday-home business in the country, with owner agreements set to end on November 11, 2026.

• MNT-Halan: Egyptian fintech MNT-Halan received a $71.2 million capital injection from its parent company, MNT Investments BV, increasing the parent’s stake to 80.47% shortly after the fintech’s $139.5 million IPO.

• Alpha Dhabi: UAE-based Alpha Dhabi Holding committed $1 billion to Alpha Wave III, a global investment fund managed by Alpha Wave Global that focuses on high-growth companies, with AI at its core.

• Mubadala Capital: UAE-based Mubadala Capital secured a minority equity investment from US asset manager Apollo Global Management, which manages $1.05 trillion in assets, with the investment value undisclosed.

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