Bank of London and The Middle East (BLME), a Shariah-compliant bank based in London, has received a licence from the Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB) to open its regional office in the Kingdom.

BLME provides a wide range of services and advice to businesses and individuals, with a strong focus on Europe, the Mena region, as well as the US. Its five core areas are private banking, corporate advisory, corporate banking, asset management and markets division.

The opening of the Bahrain office, BLME’s first overseas office in the Gulf region, reinforces its ambition to provide a bridge between the UK and the GCC to offer a range of investment opportunities to the global investment community.

The Islamic finance market is currently estimated at $1 trillion and is expected to grow to a value of more than $2 trillion by 2015. Sharia’a finance is now increasingly perceived as a viable alternative to conventional banking and is attracting a rising number of international investors.

"Bahrain is an ideal location for BLME to open an office. Having created and implemented regulations specifically designed for Islamic Financial Institutions, it represents a key hub for Islamic finance in the GCC region," said Humphrey Percy, CEO of BLME.

"Bahrain provides BLME with a base for its operations in the Gulf and forms an integral part of its strategy to expand across the region," he noted.

"This expansion will help to enhance our market intelligence as well as provide our existing and potential client base with valuable advice and investment opportunities within the GCC and the UK," he added.-TradeArabia News Service