RBS Secures Banking Licence In Bahrain

The Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB), formerly the Bahrain Monetary Agency, has granted a licence to The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) to establish a Representative Office in Bahrain. The CBB has also granted a licence, separately, to Coutts &

By None

The Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB), formerly the Bahrain Monetary Agency, has granted a licence to The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) to establish a Representative Office in Bahrain.

The CBB has also granted a licence, separately, to Coutts & Co, the private banking arm of The RBS Group, which posted a total group income of $48.6 billion in 2005, while assets amounted to $1.6 trillion.

From Bahrain, RBS & Coutts & Co will focus on mainly two lines of business, wholesale banking and private banking. The Bahrain Office will also support RBS activities in the area of project finance and explore opportunities in Islamic banking.

This will be RBS’s first on-ground representation in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. The two licences were approved earlier by HH Shaikh Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Bahrain and the Chairman of CBB’s Board.

“The CBB is delighted to welcome the RBS Group to Bahrain’s mature and well-diversified international financial centre,” says Ahmed Abdul Aziz Al Bassam, the Director of Licensing and Policy at the CBB. “The countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) are experiencing a renewed economic boom and a presence in this market will, without doubt, strengthen The RBS’s business not only in this region but in the wider Middle East as well.”

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