The central bank, the Bahrain Monetary Agency (BMA), noted that the 29 Bahrain-incorporated commercial, investment and offshore banks, both conventional and Islamic, posted aggregate net profits of $714.8m for 2003. This was an increase of 134% over 2002’s profits of $305.6m. Commercial banks represented 24% of 2003 profits, while the share of offshore banks and investment banks was 48.5% and 27.5% respectively.
“We are delighted by the continued good performance of Bahrain’s banks despite the challenging global economic and financial environment,” said Khalid Abdulla Al Bassam, deputy governor of the BMA. Bahrain is keen to promote its expertise as a financial centre and the BMA recently launched a roadshow for its proposed $250 international sukuk (Islamic bond) issue.
