The Economic Development Board in a statement confirmed that the number of financial institutions registered in Bahrain continued to rise last year, reaching 415 by the end of January 2012, up from 403 a year earlier.
The Kingdom saw a number of successes in the last few months of 2011 as financial institutions such Notz Stucki and Altaira Middle East have set up in the Kingdom, increasing the number of institutions registered in the country to 415 as of 31st January.
Among the financial firms that have registered in Bahrain during the course of 2011 are Canara Bank, AMP Capital Investors and Deloitte Corporate Finance.
Bahrain, which hosts today the 1st Euromoney GCC Private Banking Conference, has been a financial centre for over 40 years. The financial services industry in Bahrain employed more than 14,000 people at the end of 2010, which are equal two thirds of the employees in the sector. Alongside the increase in the number of financial institutions, the financial sector in Bahrain continued to grow in the first half of 2011, expanding by 1.7% in the twelve months to June 2011 according to the Bahrain Economic Quarterly.
“We at EDB are very pleased by the strong performance of the financial sector over the last year,” Shaikh Mohammed bin Essa Al-Khalifa, Chief Executive of the Economic Development Board (EDB), said.
“That these businesses are choosing Bahrain as their base for accessing the Gulf economies and the wider Middle East is testament to the strength of the local Bahraini workforce, the well-regulated environment of the financial sector in Bahrain and the role of the Central Bank in this regard, as well as the access we provide to the strong-growing Gulf market which is now worth over a trillion US dollars.”
The EDB vies for empowering the private sector as an engine of growth, support further diversification of the economy and ultimately elevate national living standards by creating greater opportunities for all Bahrainis.
An important aspect of EDB’s mandate is creating the best conditions for attracting foreign direct investment. Bahrain’s commitment to liberal economic policies designed to increase growth was reflected earlier this year as it was ranked among the world’s top 20 most economically free nations and the most free in MENA by the annual Index of Economic Freedom, published by The Heritage Foundation and Wall Street Journal.