CBB licence for Swiss private bank

The Bahrain office will represent Credit Agricole (Suisse) SA, a wholly owned subsidiary of Calyon, the corporate and investment banking arm of the Credit Agricole group.

Geneva-headquartered Credit Agricole (Suisse) is the group's main centre of private banking expertise. It is also active in transactional commodity finance and capital markets, as well as corporate banking.

Assets under management by the bank totaled $56.3bn at 2007-end.

'The CBB is delighted to welcome Credit Agricole (Suisse) to Bahrain's well-diversified international financial centre,' said Mr. Ahmed Al Bassam, Director, Licensing & Policy, at the CBB.

The Credit Agricole group has operated a wholesale banking operation under the name of Calyon in Bahrain since 1976.

The new licence for Credit Agricole (Suisse) is in addition to the existing Calyon operation.

Bahrain continues to be a magnet for leading financial institutions wishing to do business in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, said Mr. Al Bassam.

The regulatory environment for the financial services industry, as well as Bahrain's strategic geographic location and other infrastructural facilities make the Kingdom an ideal location from where to conduct business, he pointed out.

In the area of private banking, the CBB in 2007 created a new licence aimed at facilitating the conduct of private banking business from Bahrain.

The Private Banking Licence caters to all activities related to banking, investment and financial services targeting high net worth individuals (HNWIs), with liquidity of at least $1m.

CBB's private banking licensees are allowed to undertake a wide range of wealth and asset management services, including investment and advisory services, wealth management, financing and banking services, as well as inheritance and succession planning.