CBB Governor meets Lloyds Deputy Chairman

He welcomed Mr. White who is currently on a visit to the Kingdom of Bahrain, exploring to setup a market hub in the Middle East and also briefed him about Bahrain's economy and the growth and development of the financial services industry, more specifically the growth in the Insurance Sector and Islamic Banks.

"Bahrain's economy has grown rapidly, in recent years and the Kingdom's banking system continues to be sound and strongly capitalized,"

said Mr. Al Maraj.

During the meeting, the Governor highlighted Bahrain's policy initiatives in enabling the growth of the industry and the commitment of the country's leadership in promoting such developments, which have underpinned Bahrain's success as an international financial centre of repute.

"For the financial services industry, the prospects for growth remain excellent. On its part, the CBB will steadfastly pursue its established policy of implementing international best practice in all aspects of regulation and supervision," said Mr. Al Maraj.

"We have always been committed to international standards and, we believe, this will continue to solidify Bahrain's position in the long term in order to face any future challenges," he added.

"This also applies to the Islamic financial services industry, both banks and insurance firms. The Central Bank of Bahrain applies the same high levels of regulation and supervision to Islamic financial institutions as with the conventional industry,"

said Mr. Al Maraj.

Lloyd's is a collection of various insurance syndicates that has been operating for over 300 years in with a global operation out of London. The organization is currently exploring on establishing a Middle East presence.

Areas of discussion also covered the recent growth in the Takaful industry, availability of human capital and training, and Bahrain as a doorway for business in the Middle East.

Also present from the CBB was Mr. A.Rahman Al Baker, Executive Director of Financial Institution Supervision and Mr. Nadim Zaman, Senior Strategic Consultant.