Efforts to boost trading in Bahrain have been focused on corporate structuring, through a plan that includes overhauled regulation and a restructuring of the Bahrain Bourse to allow it to act with greater speed and flexibility. Initial public offerings are set to increase as moves toward privatisation continue, while small and medium-sized enterprises are on course to benefit from new listing...
Bahrain Financial Services
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Chapter | Capital Markets from The Report: Bahrain 2013
While motor insurance remains the chief source of revenue and claims, accounting for 25.8% of the total $565.5m in gross premiums recorded in 2011, mandatory medical insurance – which has been on the table for several years and is expected to become a law in the short to medium term – has the potential to provide a new and lucrative line of business. There is also an increasing focus on risk-...
Chapter | Islamic Financial Services from The Report: Bahrain 2013
Global Islamic banking assets were pegged at about $1.3trn in 2011 but are expected to rise to as much as $1.8trn by the end of 2013. As such, Islamic banks are seeking to diversify the sharia-compliant financial instruments they offer. Leaders throughout the region are starting to look toward sukuk, or Islamic bonds, for infrastructure finance as an aid to development, and while it is currently...
With its experienced workforce and historical connections to Saudi Arabia, the Bahrain banking sector has continued to be a key segment of the economy. Although retail banking in the kingdom was largely sheltered from the global economic crisis, the changing international landscape is driving financial institutions to explore new strategies, while the banking regulator is continuing efforts to...
Bahrain has remained largely insulated from international external risks and has weathered the global economic shocks of the recent past relatively well. At the height of the international financial downturn, for example, the kingdom avoided falling into recession and even achieved real GDP growth of more than 6% in 2008 and over 3% in 2009.
The Kingdom’s insurance industry has traditionally been strong, regularly posting double-digit year-on-year growth, mirroring the expansion of the wider financial sector. The global financial crisis and recent political unrest, however, have presented the industry with a number of challenges in recent years. For example, the unrest made the implementation of the planned new mandatory health law...