The 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 an office in the kingdom.

BLME provides a wide range of Shariah-compliant banking services and advice to businesses and individuals, with a strong focus on Europe, the Middle East and North Africa regions, as well as the USA.

The five core areas that set the foundations for BLME’s offerings are Private Banking, Corporate Advisory, Corporate Banking, Asset Management and Markets division.

The Bahrain office will be BLME’s first overseas presence, through which the bank intends to tap the Middle East markets.

“We welcome the Bank of London and The Middle East’s decision to choose Bahrain as its first overseas presence,” said Ahmed Al-Bassam, director of Licensing & Policy, Central Bank of Bahrain.

“Bahrain provides BLME with a base for its operations in the Gulf and forms an integral part of BLME’s strategy to expand across the region. BLME offers clients a range of high quality funds and property advice in addition to private and institutional banking products and services,” added Humphrey Percy, chief of BLME.-TradeArabia News Service