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Mirza Ashraf Beg

Subject

Finance & Markets

Banking, mortgages, rates, treasury and the mechanics of capital — read from the household up and the market down.

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Finance & Markets

The Rate You Are Tested At: Why Banks Stress a Mortgage Above the Price They Charge, and Why Every UAE Household Should Do the Same to Itself

Industry reporting this week says UAE banks are likely to lift the stress-test rates they use to assess mortgage eligibility, so some buyers will qualify for less even as headline rates barely move. In this CEO Sunday Editorial, Mirza Ashraf Beg explains why banks test at a rate they never charge, what Thursday’s global equity selloff revealed about deposit funds held in markets, and the five-line

12 min read

Finance & Markets

The Hold: Why Doing Nothing on Purpose Is the Hardest Decision in Finance, and How a Household Does It Properly

On 28 October the US Federal Reserve held rates in a 10-2 vote and the Central Bank of the UAE kept the Base Rate at 3.90%. Neither was idle: each named what it was watching, what would make it move and when it would look again. In this CEO Sunday Editorial, Mirza Ashraf Beg explains the difference between a deliberate hold and inertia, why holding is the hardest decision in finance, and the five-

12 min read

Finance & Markets

The Central Bank Held. Your Mortgage Instalment Might Not: EIBOR, Reset Dates and the Gap Between Policy Rates and What You Pay

The Fed held at 3.75% to 4.00% and the Central Bank of the UAE kept its Base Rate at 3.90% this week, yet three-month EIBOR, the benchmark most UAE variable mortgages actually reprice against, has been fixing well above the policy rate and about half a point higher than in May. This MPCL deep dive explains the three rates behind one mortgage, why the benchmark drifts when policy stands still, how

16 min read

Finance & Markets

When the Rent Resets Down and the Instalment Resets Up: A UAE Landlord’s Guide to Mortgage Cover, Vacancy Gaps and the Renewal Letter

Dubai asking rents fell in most popular apartment districts this quarter and new leases are being signed below renewals, while three-month EIBOR has risen about half a point since May and the Fed decides today. For a landlord with a mortgage, the question is whether the rent still covers the instalment after the next renewal. This MPCL deep dive shows how to calculate an honest cover ratio, why on

14 min read

Finance & Markets

The 50 Percent Ceiling: How the UAE Debt Burden Ratio Quietly Decides What Your Mortgage Can and Cannot Do

The debt burden ratio is the share of verified income that services all your debts, and UAE banks must keep it within 50 percent. With the base rate at 3.90 percent and rents higher, many households have drifted toward that ceiling without taking on a single new loan. Here is what the ratio counts, the five decisions it controls, and the levers that move it.

11 min read

Finance & Markets

When Prices Fall but the Mortgage Does Not: What a Dubai Property Correction Changes for a Homeowner With a Loan, and What It Leaves Alone

Dubai’s third-quarter sales figures and softening asking rents have put the word correction back into everyday conversation. For a homeowner with a mortgage, the instinct is to ask what the fall does to the loan. The honest answer is: almost nothing to the instalment, and quite a lot to the options around it. This deep dive explains why a performing mortgage is rarely revalued, how loan-to-value d

15 min read

Finance & Markets

The Credit Committee You Never Face: Five Questions Banks Ask Before Lending, and Why Households Should Ask Them Too

Every loan in the UAE passed a credit committee that asked five unsentimental questions: can the borrower pay and from what, what happens if income stops, how concentrated is the exposure, what is the exit, and what does the file leave out. Households rarely ask those questions of themselves. This CEO Sunday Editorial translates each one into household terms and argues that mid-October, with the y

9 min read

Finance & Markets

Selling a Mortgaged Property in Dubai: The Liability Letter, the Settlement Sequence, and the Cash You Actually Walk Away With

Dubai’s secondary market rose 15% quarter on quarter in Q3 2026, and a growing share of the homes changing hands still carry a mortgage. Selling one is not the same as selling a cash-owned property: the bank sits between the seller and the proceeds, and the sequence of liability letter, MOU, developer NOC, settlement or blocking, release and transfer decides both the timeline and the final cheque.

14 min read

Finance & Markets

Mortgage Age Limits and Tenor in the UAE: Why the Same Loan Costs More Each Month After 45, and How to Plan Around It

The UAE regulator removed the hard age cap on mortgages in 2019 and handed the decision to banks. Most still underwrite to a retirement-age horizon, which means a borrower in their late forties or fifties is offered a shorter tenor and a heavier instalment for exactly the same loan. This deep dive explains the mechanics, shows the numbers on an illustrative AED 1.5 million loan, examines the refin

13 min read

Finance & Markets

When the Mortgage Instalment Looks Like the Rent: The Full Rent-vs-Buy Comparison UAE Renters Should Run Before They Switch

Nearly half of UAE renters surveyed this month have considered buying, and a third of those comparing say the mortgage payment and the rent look about the same. This deep dive explains why that comparison is incomplete, what sits beside the instalment, what the bank will not lend you, and the one-page test to run before you switch from tenant to owner.

16 min read