The statement came as the foreign banks CEO met with the CEO of the Economic Development Board Shaikh Mohammed Bin Isa Al Khalifa at a roundtable discussion organized by the Bahrain Association of Banks (BAB).
The meeting was held at the Gulf Hotel and also attended by the Chairman of BAB Abdulkarim Bucheery and the CEO BAB Robert Ainey.
“Standard Chartered Bank’s strategy remains unchanged and we intend to continue investing in our business in Bahrain. We opened two new branches as well as refurbishing a number of our other branches to ensure that our customers enjoy the best service possible. We plan to invest in our distribution again this year and are also planning to hub our Global Arabic Call centre in Bahrain.”
“The Bank’s brand promise here for good captures the essence of who we are. We are a bank that sticks by its clients and customers through good times and bad. We are committed to having a positive impact on the broader economy and on the communities in which we live and work,” Jonathan Morris, Chief Executive Officer, Standard Chartered Bank Bahrain, in a statement said.
The meeting titled “outlook of the foreign banks in Bahrain” was part of the ongoing efforts of the BAB to help the industry in disseminating the message to the public as well to the government about the situation after the unfortunate incidents which lasted for about six weeks.
“Standard Chartered as the first bank in Bahrain since 1920 we continue to serve our client base in the Kingdom,” he said.
Last week the CEO of the BAB Robert Ainey said that the situation was back to normal in Bahrain for all businesses, thanks to the measures taken by the Government to restore peace and order in the country.
“We at the BAB have no information that some banks plan to go out of Bahrain,” BAB CEO added.
“Bahrain is open for business and the rumours about some foreign banks’ plans to relocate their businesses are just baseless,” he added.
Earlier, on March 8th, BAB held a similar meeting with the heads of the foreign banks to discuss the situation at that time and after the meeting BAB President Abdulkarim Bucheery told reporters that despite of some peaceful protests situation was well under control in Bahrain.
The banks, including the foreign entities, are working under normal circumstances, thanks to the steps taken by the government to restore peace and order across the Kingdom. The steps taken by the government, according to bankers, has largely boost the confidence among the businesses.
Sources at the banking sector confirmed the liquidity situation among banks remained at satisfactory levels and the operations being normal, thanks to the low pressure of consumer and commercial loans in the past six weeks
In the wake of unfolding events, the banks in Bahrain had adopted a conservative approach on the commercial loans side just to minimize the loan exposure due to unfolding events in MENA.
This low demand of loans in Bahrain has contributed to the low pressure on the banks making it much easier for the financial institutions to navigate through the challenging times.
The experts have had also ruled out rumours of flight of capital out of Bahrain and believe that Bahrain would emerged even stronger after the recent incidents which slightly impacted the retail or consumer banking businesses.
“Bahrain is the right place to do banking business and the leaving this most attractive business destination will not serve the purpose.”