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The Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB) has clarified that no fees, except insurance, can be charged by lenders on the four-month loan deferral for Bahrainis and local companies. The regulator also said no late payment fees must be charged on credit cards’ outstanding balance due for payment this month. S&P noted that the measures carried out by the CBB have been effective so far. The measures include relaxation in prudential requirements and asking banks to defer instalments for six months, in a bid to help the private and retail sectors cope with the pandemic.

KFH-Bahrain launched a first-of-its-kind Shari'a compliant Securitization Program which offers a series of Mudaraba Sukuk under a trust structure. Under the program, sukuk will be issued against a select pool of financing portfolios, where the sukuk holders become the ultimate beneficiaries of the financing portfolio. The program can also be used for non-KFH-Bahrain financing portfolios, where the Bank acts as an arranger. Mr. Rashid Alkhan, Head of Wealth Management says the program provides an opportunity for clients to diversify their portfolio allocation strategy. The program will increase market activity and financial institution's ability to finance housing units in the Kingdom of Bahrain.

Arcapita Group and Bahrain Mumtalakat Holding sold their ownership stake in Abu Dhabi-based NAS Neuron Health Services. The two companies partnered to acquire an equity stake in NAS United Healthcare Services in 2017. Umair Nizami is the Managing Director of Neuron, as well as CEO of Dubai Wing. NAS Neuron is one of the largest private TPAs of medical claims in the GCC region.

Al Baraka Islamic Bank has launched a promotional campaign to provide property financing to the beneficiaries of the Housing Ministry’s Mazaya programme. Under the campaign, profit rates will be calculated at competitive rates, there will be no down payments, and zero banking fees. The bank will also cover the fees of life insurance for the beneficiaries and will provide fire insurance for the property. Also, there will be instant prizes for the executed deals. The financing is up to BD120,000 with maximum duration of 25 years.

The National Bank of Bahrain (NBB) announced its subscription to Bahrain Bourse’s (BHB) newly introduced Murabaha service, which will be used by the Bank when transacting in Islamic Commodity Murabaha financing. NBB is one of the first banks in the Kingdom to execute a transaction using the new fully Shari’ah compliant service. The service employs Government of Bahrain Islamic Ijara Sukuk, whereby the lender in the financing transaction buys the Sukuk from the CBB and after the transfer of the ownership, sells them to the borrower, with a deferred sell as the underlying commodity.

Al Salam Bank-Bahrain (Al Salam Bank) has achieved the highest reduction in non-performing financing (NPF) amongst 55 GCC listed banks in 2019. According to KPMG, the Bank also ranked sixth in the region for Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR), with a strong standing of 20.9%. The KPMG report notes that the region’s positive results were coupled with an increased focus on digitisation. Al Salam Bank has come to be recognised as one of the key institutions driving the digitisation of financial services in Bahrain. Al Salam Bank is continuing the successful roll-out of its three-year strategy, focused on giving customers a virtual branch and an onboarding app that enables clients to open their accounts within minutes.

Bahrain Islamic Bank (BisB) has signed an agreement with Bahrain Bourse for a murabaha financing framework using a Sharia-compliant lending service. The underlying asset is Ijara sukuk provided by the Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB). Adding this Murabaha service introduces a new underlying asset to the bank’s existing commodity murabaha facility structure, currently conducted via local and international brokers. This further diversifies the structure and enhances its framework given that it is actioned via a digital system which decreases the processing time exponentially.

The National Bank of Bahrain (NBB) announced its subscription to Bahrain Bourse’s newly introduced Murabaha service, which will be used by the Bank when transacting in Islamic Commodity Murabaha financing. NBB is one of the first banks in the Kingdom to execute a transaction using the new fully Shari’ah compliant service. The service employs Government of Bahrain Islamic Ijara Sukuk, whereby the lender in the financing transaction buys the Sukuk from the CBB and after the transfer of the ownership, sells them to the borrower, with a deferred sell as the underlying commodity.

Al Baraka Islamic Bank and Bahrain Bourse (BHB) have signed an agreement allowing the bank to buy and sell Sharia-complaint ijara sukuk through the exchange. Proceeds from the sukuk will contribute to facilitating the bank’s financing operations for its underlying clients. The agreement aims to diversify the commodities available for underlying clients when conducting a commodity-based murabaha transaction to include government-based sukuk issued by the Central Bank of Bahrain.

Al Salam Bank-Bahrain announced the sponsorship of the Islamic Finance Handbook for practitioners, produced locally by the Bahrain Institute of Banking and Finance (BIBF). The Islamic Finance Handbook will cover all major Islamic financial products and services including FinTech and Takaful Insurance. The book will incorporate case-studies from Al Salam Bank Bahrain as well as interviews and thoughts from the Bank’s senior management on various aspects of Islamic Finance. The BIBF Centre for Islamic Finance was established in 1997 to help promote the growth of both Islamic finance and banking. Today, the BIBF offers degrees and certifications, and conducts training in more than 27 countries worldwide.

Al Baraka Banking Group announced the appointment of Abdullah Saleh Kamel as the board's new chairman. Previously, the chairman position was held by the late Sheikh Saleh Abdullah Kamel, the group's founder who passed away last month. Kamel served as the board's vice chairman and chairman of the executive committee for several years, contributing to the group's expansion strategies.

Bahrain's Al Baraka Banking Group plans to expand into India, China and Indonesia as the coronavirus pandemic pushes valuations down. The pandemic, which has tipped the global economy into a recession, slated to be the deepest since the Great Depression, has dented lending. Al Baraka Banking Group plans to setup a small commercial bank in China focusing on trade financing to capitalise on growing commercial ties. In Indonesia, the lender has already explored the possibility of taking a stake in Bank Muamalat three years ago and will continue to look for further opportunities. Al Baraka currently operates in Sudan, Turkey, South Africa, Algeria, Pakistan, Syria, Tunisia, Saudi Arabia and Lebanon.

Bahrain's Al Salam Bank has sold a portfolio of seven multifamily assets in the United States for $182.5 million. Al Salam acquired the real estate assets in North Carolina and Texas in 2016. The bank said the sale price exceeds the original underwriting for the portfolio. Al Salam Bank’s head of private banking Ali Habib Qassim said the exit comes at an opportune time ahead of the uncertainty of the current COVID-19 crisis.

Bahrain Islamic Bank (BisB) launched the Tejoori Instant Finance service allowing customers to obtain instant finance within 5 minutes. According to BisB Chief Retail Banking, Dalal Al Qais, customers can get instant finance on amounts ranging between BD 200 and BD 2,000, which will be credited to their Saving or Current Account in less than 5 minutes. Customers will be required to pay upfront fees that vary between BD30 and BD70, depending on the required amount. They can choose a minimum tenor of three months up to a maximum tenor of 12 months to repay the amount with no profits. The monthly instalment will be deducted directly from the customer’s Tejoori account.

Al-Salam Bank-Bahrain has announced the appointment of Sheikh Khalid bin Mustahail Al-Mashani as the chairman of the board of directors. He is now replacing Khaleefa Butti bin Omair bin Yousif Al-Muhairi, who submitted his resignation as chairman and board member of the bank. Sheikh Khalid has more than 24 years of banking experience.

Bahrain's Family Bank has opened its new headquarters in the Diplomatic Area of Manama. The ceremony was attended by the bank’s board members, chief executives of contributing banks and economic personalities. The establishment of the Family Bank as a first social bank in Bahrain in 2010 aimed to boost the social security network by the activation of a micro loan-giving mechanism. The bank was set up through partnership between the Labour and Social Development Ministry, the Royal Charity Organisation, the Bank of Bahrain and Kuwait (BBK), Ithmaar Bank, Ahli United Bank and Kuwait Finance House (KFH). It won Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum’s award for supporting youth projects in 2013.

Al Baraka Islamic Bank organized an art exhibition for talented employees of the Bank as well as for the staff of Al Baraka Banking Group. The Art exhibition took place on 28th January 2020 at the Al Baraka Headquarters in Bahrain Bay. Al Baraka Group President Mr. Adnan Ahmed Yousif said the exhibition aimed to explore the historical legacies of Bahrain, from traditional crafts, industry and pop culture to modernism’s forms, including art and architecture there by encouraging the talented employees. He further stated that some of the paintings would be selected for use in the Group’s calendars and greeting cards.

Al Salam Bank-Bahrain signed a memorandum of understanding with Al Saraya Properties Company to offer an exclusive financing facility for customers purchasing villas in the new Saraya Al Reem 3 development. The bank's property finance scheme is available to all customers, including Bahraini nationals eligible for Mazaya social housing.

Kuwait Finance House (KFH) plans to shed assets worth about 100 million dinars ($329.5 million) in 2020 as it finalises the acquisition of Bahrain’s Ahli United Bank. KFH has sold assets worth 137 million dinars in 2019 and achieved a profit of 40.1 million dinars. Kuwait's largest Islamic bank registered a net profit of 60.5 million dinars in the fourth quarter last year, up from 58.3 million one year earlier. After the acquisition of Ahli United Bank, the new entity will have assets of $101 billion and shareholder equity of $10.5 billion, with an annual forecast profit of $1.5 billion. This merger will be the Gulf’s first major cross-border bank merger in recent years.

Kuwait Finance House has affirmed plans to purchase Bahrain’s Ahli United Bank. The merger can possibly become the Gulf’s sixth-biggest lender with $101 billion in assets. Reaching the value of about $101 billion, the acquisition will generate the largest Islamic banking entity in the world in terms of assets. Based on its past performance, the annual forecast profit of the merger is $1.5 billion. The shareholder equity of the new entity will be $10.5 billion. Besides Kuwait Finance House, Dubai Islamic Bank in the UAE has also received shareholders’ approval for purchasing Noor Bank via capital increase and share swap. The merger will potentially be valued at AED 275 billion.