The number of financial institutions registered in Bahrain continued to rise last year, reaching 415 by the end of January 2012, up from 403 a year earlier, the Bahrain Economic Development Board (EDB) said.

The kingdom saw a number of successes in the last few months of 2011 as financial institutions such as Notz Stucki and Altaira Middle East set up in the Kingdom, increasing the number of institutions registered in the country to 415 as of January 31.

Among the financial firms that have registered in Bahrain during the course of 2011 are Canara Bank, AMP Capital Investors and Deloitte Corporate Finance, a statement said.

Shaikh Mohammed bin Essa Al-Khalifa, chief executive of the EDB, said: “That these businesses are choosing Bahrain as their base for accessing the Gulf economies and the wider Middle East is testament to the strength of the local Bahraini workforce, the quality of the Central Bank of Bahrain’s regulation and the access we provide to the strong-growing Gulf market which is now worth over a trillion dollars.”

“Bahrain, which hosts today the 1st Euromoney GCC Private Banking Conference, has been a financial centre for over 40 years,” he said.

The financial services industry employed more than 14,000 people at the end of 2010, of which two thirds were Bahrainis, the statement said.

Alongside the increase in the number of financial institutions, the financial sector continued to grow in the first half of 2011, expanding by 1.7 per cent in the twelve months to June 2011, according to the Bahrain Economic Quarterly.

The EDB holds responsibility for Bahrain’s Vision 2030 and National Economic Strategy, designed to drive the private sector as an engine of growth, support further diversification of the economy, and ultimately elevate national living standards by creating greater opportunities for all nationals, it said.  – TradeArabia News Service