Despite being synonymous with financial expertise for more than 40 years, Bahrain is not resting on its laurels, and it faces stiff competition from growing regional centres like Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Doha and Riyadh. Bahrain climbed 12 places in the 15th Global Financial Centres Index (GFCI) published by Z/Yen Group in March 2014. But its recent...
For a country with a population of 1.2m, Bahrain has a complex banking landscape with 104 institutions holding licences as of March 2014. There are 80 conventional banks, including 22 conventional retail banks, and 24 Islamic banks, of which six are retail banks. The Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB) has been urging greater consolidation across all...
In many respects, Bahrain’s capital markets offer the variety and depth expected for a financial sector of its type. There are two securities exchanges, a local funds industry growing in size and sophistication, and liquidity management tools in the form of government-debt securities, which are issued on a regular basis. In recent years, the kingdom...
For most of the world’s large securities markets, increasing trading volume and value – liquidity – is a priority. In Bahrain, where more activity in securities trading could be a valued complement to the capital markets services and capacities already in place, officials are in the midst of a multi-pronged strategy to make it happen. This includes...
As one of the world’s leading centres for Islamic finance, Bahrain hosts a wider variety of sharia-compliant financial services companies than perhaps anywhere else, and as in other areas in the Bahraini financial services industry these are aimed not only at the domestic economy but to customers from the region and beyond. As 2013 progressed,...
It is said frequently that mergers and acquisitions are difficult because of the culture of the Gulf – family owned businesses that are part of conglomerates are difficult to part with for founders who have an emotional connection to them, or who do not want others to equate their decision to sell with weakness. Another factor is that such owners...
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