Awal Bank has paid off 28 of its 54 employees just a week after The International Banking Corporation (TIBC) cut its workforce by 21 people to just 20 members of staff.

Both banks were put into administration by the Central Bank of Bahrain at the end of last month.

'I can confirm that earlier today 28 of the bank's employees were given notice of the cancellation of their employment,' said a spokesman for the external administrators Bahrain and London-based law firm Charles Russell.

'It is very unfortunate that we have had to take these steps but the bank has not been trading since June 2 after the bank began to default on obligations in late May and the roles of many of the staff have become redundant.

'The external administrators have attended meetings with the Labour Ministry to explain the situation fully and we have explained in detail the nature of the financial package being offered to the leaving employees according to the terms of Bahraini labour law.'

Charles Russell recently appointed UK restructuring agents Baker Tilly to assist it in the administration process at the bank which had a book vale of $5 billion. Both Awal and TIBC ran into trouble because of their exposure to the Saudi Saad Group and Ahmad Hamad Algosaibi & Brothers.-TradeArabia News Service