MANAMA: The Kingdom of Bahrain is studying the status of stalled real estate projects by obtaining detailed data on these projects, the value of their finances and legal status.
The Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB)’s Governor Rasheed Mohammed Al-Maraj said that the CBB was talking to the banks on the situation of these projects in the light of which all available options will be studied in order to redress them.
HRH Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa the Prime Minister last December directed the CBB to come up with suitable recommendations to redress the situations of stalled real estate projects and harness available liquidity generated from economic activity in implementing more development projects.
His Royal Highness had directed the activation of the role of the relevant Sharia-compliance Monitoring Body on Islamic banking in the Central Bank of Bahrain to consult it regarding issues pertaining to loans granted by Islamic banks.
Al-Maraj said that the total bullion reserve of the CBB has reached BD 2.4 billion by the end of the first quarter2014 compared with BD 2.2 billion last year (2013) that means an increase of approximately 9%.
Al-Maraj said that the CBB granted two licensures in the period January-March2014: one in the field of insurance and the other in the field of supportive service provision to the financial sector i.e. payment service providers.
And regarding new applications for insurance companies, he said that there are some applications whose requisite data have not been completed yet and which are pending exploration with applicants in order to finally decide in regard thereof.
Al-Maraj said that the policy of the CBB regarding the requirements for licensure of each category of financial institutions is clear and can be accessed on the CBB’s website.
He added that the duty of the CBB is to oversee the enforcement of suitable banking and monitoring standards on licensees in Bahrain. He said that the CBB organizes the financial sector and this does not interfere with the work of other sides in the Kingdom in terms of the attraction of capital or the promotion of Bahrain.
The CBB’s Governor said that there are efforts to ensure that the financial sector’s setup in terms of licensure and monitoring procedures follow the best applicable international practices in order to provide the best working conditions for financial institutions operating in Bahrain in a secure and stable environment and as per the same international specifications.