Bahrain needs to reinvent itself as a financial centre if it wants to return to growth and remain a destination for the region’s oil wealth after the financial crisis clipped the wings of its investment houses. Analysts say the only opportunity for the tiny island kingdom off Saudi Arabia lies in funding the large infrastructure [...]
The former chief executive of a Bahrain-based bank is suing the Gulf island emirate at the International Court of Human Rights (ICHR) after being held in the country for the past 10 months.
Glenn Stewart, 55, who until last July ran The International Banking Corporation (TIBC), escaped from Bahrain last week and has filed a claim with the ICHR in Geneva, claiming that he was wrongfully banned from leaving the country after TIBC defaulted on its debts in May 2009.
Bahrain-based Arcapita Bank has closed a $200 million finance facility with Standard Chartered Bank. The facility will be used by Arcapita for balance sheet strengthening and corporate purposes and the bank is now confident it will return to profitability next year. “Standard Chartered has built a close relationship with Arcapita over several years and we [...]
Abu Dhabi Investment House (ADIH) has announced the partial exit of its Porta Reef Fund, which funded the purchase and development of three 10-storey residential towers on Reef Island. ‘During the current tough global economic environment, the ADIH team continues to diligently work on safeguarding investors’ interest, said ADIH chief executive officer Fawaz Ali Al [...]
Bahrain’s Gulf Finance House (GFH) said on Wednesday Chief Executive Ahmed Fahour had quit after just five months, a setback for the loss-making bank’s efforts to restructure and find new revenue streams. GFH said in a statement Fahour had been appointed by the Australian government as managing director at Australia Post and current Group Deputy [...]
Bahrain-based Arab Banking Corporation ABCB.BH (ABC) said on Wednesday it plans to increase its capital by $1.11 billion to finance its Middle Eastern growth strategy and make acquisitions. It said the capital injection from its existing shareholders would bring its capital to $3.11 billion. “Expansion by way of an acquisition is also not excluded, as [...]
Faisal Private Bank’s Chief Executive Marco Rochat has resigned, effective from the end of 2009, a spokeswoman for the Geneva-based subsidiary of Bahrain-listed Ithmaar Bank ITHMR.BH said on Monday. The resignation comes just days after news of problems with Faisal’s real estate portfolio which had led the bank to ask clients for cash injections or [...]
The operating environment for Gulf-based investment banks continues to be unsupportive, weighing substantially on earnings and prompting revisions of business models. We are lowering our counterparty credit ratings on GFH to ‘BB+/B’ from ‘BBB-/A-3′. The outlook remains negative, reflecting the bank’s poor revenue prospects and expected difficulties in implementing its new strategy. Standard & Poor’s [...]
Ahmad Hamad Algosaibi & Brothers Co., the Saudi family holding company whose Bahraini bank has defaulted, owes 34.6 billion Saudi riyals ($9.2 billion) to more than 100 banks, two people familiar with the situation said. The Algosaibi group held a meeting with creditors in Bahrain June 24 to ask for a grace period of 90 [...]
The Central Bank of Bahrain is investigating Global Investment House, a top Kuwaiti investment bank, over transactions the bank had entered into with funds it manages. Various funds in Global’s hedge fund group, some domiciled in Bahrain, entered into at least $25.75m of so-called murabaha transactions – a kind of short-term Islamic debt financing structure [...]
