The situation is back to normal in Bahrain for all businesses, thanks to the measures taken by the Government to restore peace and order in the country, according to the CEO of the Bahrain Association of Banks (BAB).
“We at the BAB have no information that some banks plan to go out of Bahrain,” Robert Ainey, the CEO of BAB in an exclusive statement said.
“Bahrain is open for business and the rumours about some foreign banks’ plans to relocate their businesses are just baseless,” he added.
BAB CEO said that keeping in view the romours in the market, the BAB is organizing a roundtable with all leading foreign banks on Tuesday April 12 to discuss the deliberate upon the situation. The CEO of the Economic Development Board Shaikh Mohammed Bin Isa Al Khalifa will also attend the meeting to address any issues related to the government.
Earlier, on March 8th, BAB had 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 remain 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 low demand in consumer loans in Bahrain is largely attributed to the distribution of BD 116 million to the Bahraini families under the BD 1000 per family Royal Gesture announced by HM the King on the anniversary of National Action Charter.
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.
Senior officials, who did not wish to be identified by name, at the two major foreign banks also denied rumours that they were planning to leave Bahrain.
“Bahrain is the right place to do banking business and the leaving this most attractive business destination will not serve the purpose.”