This is a daily reference rate based on the interest at which banks borrow unsecured funds from other banks in the local wholesale banking market.
The main objective in revising the management process of BHIBOR is to increase the efficiency of dealing and trading in Bahraini Dinars both regionally and globally and to ensure consistency with the Bahrain Economic Vision 2030 to promote the country as a leading regional financial centre.
“It is very important that the BHIBOR fixing is accurate and up-to-date to reflect market conditions among banks operating in Bahrain,” said CBB Director of Banking Services, Ahmed Buhijji. “This will help to attract money flows through Bahrain’s banking system and increase liquidity in the sector.”
BHIBOR represents the average offered interest rate from a panel of ten commercial banks for Bahrain Dinar lending on the interbank market. BHIBOR is provided for 8 tenors, ranging from over-night to one year.
The BHIBOR panel consists of 10 banks include Ahli United Bank; Arab Bank; BBK; BMI Bank; Citibank; HSBC; National Bank of Abu Dhabi; NBB; National Bank of Kuwait and Standard Chartered Bank.
“At the request of the Central Bank of Bahrain, BAB started a project to take over management and monitoring of the Bahrain Dinar Interbank Offer Rate (BHIBOR), which is used by banks when they lend money to each other. There are multiple rates provided by the 10 contributing banks from over-night to one year. We worked closely with Thomson-Reuters on the project and went live on 9 October this year. BAB looks forward to participating with the CBB on future initiatives to improve the operations of the banking sector in the Kingdom,” said BAB chief executive Robert Ainey.
El Tahir Nimir, Head of Regulatory and Statutory Affairs at BAB and project manager for BHIBOR said that the rate would be updated at 11:00 local time (07:00 GMT) on working days and will be available from Thomson Reuters, Bloomberg and the website of the Bahrain Association of Banks with a 20 minute delay.