The Bahrain Bourse (BHB) was established in 1987 and commenced operations in 1989 with only two stocks trading. Since then, the bourse has grown to include 41 common stocks (including three closed for trading), government bonds and mutual funds. The market is serviced by twelve brokers, of which three are individuals. The Securities &...
Bahrain’s banking sector has managed two years of a challenging low oil price environment without seeing significant deterioration in its key financial stability indicators. Both conventional lenders and Islamic financiers operating within the kingdom’s robust regulatory framework have also managed to maintain profitability throughout this...
The large amount of business ceded by Gulf insurers to domestic, regional and global reinsurers has, for many years, been a hot topic in the sector. The downside risks of this market characteristic are frequently rehearsed at industry conferences and regulatory seminars: Middle Eastern insurers, it is argued, have grown accustomed to the easy...
For decades, Bahrain has been a regional centre for insurance, with domestic and international firms taking advantage of the country’s robust yet accommodating regulatory structure to pursue business both locally and in rapidly emerging regional markets. The nation’s insurance industry faces increased competition on two fronts: at home, a...
In February 2015 the leading participants in the region’s insurance market came to Bahrain for the Middle East Insurance Forum, an annual event which has become the largest and most influential industry gathering in the Gulf. Staged under the official patronage of the Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB), the event attracted around 500 attendees,...
The Islamic banking sector might be outstripping its conventional counterpart in terms of growth, but the rapidly developing industry still faces a number of challenges which ordinary lenders are not confronted by. One of the most salient of them is the question of liquidity, which has existed as a potential impediment to growth since the...
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