Bank of Baroda gets nod for Bahrain branch

DUBAI: Bahrain has granted a license to Bank of Baroda (BOB) to establish a wholesale branch in the Gulf country. The new license marks the return to Bahrain of Bank of Baroda, the fifth largest bank in India.
    
Recently ICICI was also given a full-fledged commercial license.
     
BOB's total assets stood at USD36.4 billion for the fiscal year ending March 31 this year, while net profit for the year amounted to $261 million.
   
Bank of Baroda first established an offshore banking unit (OBU) in Bahrain in 1980, which was closed in 1993 due to a forex crisis in India.

The new branch operation in Bahrain will target high net worth individuals and corporates in the region.

Its main lines of business will be deposit products, loans and syndications, trade finance and structured products, treasury products and services as well as participating in debt market and private banking and wealth management services.
    
"The CBB welcomes the return of Bank of Baroda to Bahrain," Central Bank of Bahrain Licensing & Policy director Ahmed Abdul Aziz Al Bassam said.
     
The business environment for wholesale banking is particularly attractive, given the economic boom taking place in the Middle East region and India, he said.    

Bahrain's wholesale banking industry has grown significantly over the past two years, with the consolidated assets of wholesale banks amounting to USD177.2bn in August this year, an increase of more than 20 per cent over the same time last year.