As well as regulation,the Bahrain Monetary Authority is responsible for setting and overseeing monetary policy objectives, to protect the Bahraini dinar’s value and maintain general economic stability, as well as that of financial markets.

Bahrain is making efforts on many fronts to strengthen its status as a financial services hub. The Banker reports on current projects and developments.

Banco Cuscatlan

Credit Andorra

Russians have seen it all before; when the queues began to form outside banks that were refusing to pay out last month, panic began to set in.
A bank crisis that started in May with the closure of medium-sized Sodbiznesbank threatened to spin out of control after the large retail bank, Guta Bank, closed its doors and a run started on accounts at Alfa Bank, one of the two biggest commercial banks in Russia.

Last month’s proposal of marriage between MTFG and UFJ would create the largest bank in Japan, but it will only be positive news if the two businesses can be integrated, writes Geraldine Lambe
For the Japanese banking system, recuperation has been a long and painful process. It is only now, after more than a decade of despair, that Japan’s so-called mega-banks are ready to start performing as mega-banks should.

Dubai has learned that breathtaking architecture is one thing but impartial regulation is another when it comes to global financial hubs. Mark Ford reports .The new Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) is intended to fulfil the global scale of the Emirate’s ambitions to become the region’s predominant centre for international business and leisure activities.

As Saudi Arabia remains flush from booming oil prices, and opens its banking sector up to competition, the kingdom’s institutions are making aggressive plays for the consumer market and other new business. James Gavin, Jon Marks and Paul Melly report .With international banks set to enter Saudi Arabia’s previously guarded markets, as the long-awaited capital market law comes into effect, the threat of increased competition is looming on the horizon for the country’s banks.

Rapid economic growth – thanks to a wealth of oil and gas – has turned Qatar into one of the world’s richest countries in terms of per capita GDP, providing opportunities that banks have been quick to take up. Mohamad Moabi reports from Doha.