GCC demand spurs Bahrain financial sector

Growing demand for more sophisticated financial products and services helped drive growth in Bahrain's financial sector during last year, according to the Economic Development Board (EDB) and Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB). Bahrain attracted a number of businesses, with the number of registered financial services firms swelling to 415 by the end of the year. Alongside strong growth last year, the kingdom also developed a number of reforms to ensure that the regulatory framework of the Islamic banking sector continues to meet the needs and encourage long-term growth. Moreover, the CBB also recently implemented new rules set to boost the takaful sector by addressing some issues around solvency. Bahrain also had one of the most developed Islamic finance knowledge landscape, and performed well in terms of governance.