Bahrain Financial Services

In 2017 Bahrain took an important step towards a more centralised approach to sharia supervision. The issue has been on the domestic agenda for some years, and speaks to the broader conversation taking place in the global Islamic financial services (IFS) sector as to how the industry should be governed.

The Bahrain Bourse (BHB) was established in 1987 and commenced operations in 1989, with only two stocks trading. By February 2018 the bourse had grown to comprise 43 common stocks, government bonds and mutual funds, and a real estate investment trust (REIT). The market is serviced by 12 brokers, of which three are individuals. SICO is the...

Reduced oil prices and fiscal austerity measures being carried out by governments across the GCC have resulted in a challenging environment for Bahrain’s sharia-compliant financial institutions. The competitive domestic market – home to the largest concentration of Islamic financial institutions in the Middle East – has reacted to adverse...

Despite a challenging investment environment, Bahrain’s exchange showed a relatively strong performance in 2017, with index gains in most sectors. Macroeconomic challenges remain in 2018, but new investment instruments and some significant changes to the exchange’s infrastructure are helping it to maintain its status as one of the most...

With the exception of Saudi Arabia, the banking sector across the GCC is generally fragmented in nature, with a large number of institutions pursuing business within relatively small bankable populations. For decades regulators have extolled the virtues of sector consolidation, in some cases approaching banks discretely to encourage a merger,...

While bankers might decry the slowdown in growth resulting from curtailed government spending and investor uncertainty, economists – who generally take a longer-term view – often see a silver lining in a sustained drop in the price of a barrel of oil.