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IN a landmark announcement, Bahrain Financial Harbour Holding Company (BFHHC) confirmed it had signed a lease agreement with the global banking major, BNP Paribas.
As per the terms of the agreement BNP Paribas has committed to an uptake of five floors (covering an area of over 5,000 sq m) in the Harbour Towers, which forms a key component of the recently launched Financial Centre – Phase I of the landmark Bahrain Financial Harbour (BFH).
Welcoming the initiative, Stephen Rothel, chief executive officer, BFHHC said: “We are delighted that BNP Paribas, one of the leading global financial players has now signed with BFH.
“BNP Paribas, has one of the largest international banking networks, and will be relocating its regional hub and Bahrain’s full service commercial branch to BFH thus reinforcing its positioning as the kingdom’s main financial district. This move also absolutely vindicates BFH’s clear vision and strategy of creating a world-class Financial Centre Development model.
“This is also one of the largest private sector lettings in Bahrain for some time and accordingly is extremely significant for the kingdom and BFH.”
“Furthermore, we are confident that the Islamic banking interest of both BFH and BNP Paribas will benefit immensely from this move. One of the central aims of BFH is to create an environment that is at the forefront of innovation, best-practices and development in the sector,” Mr Rothel added.
BNP Paribas is a leading player in the GCC and all core business lines of the Group are present in Bahrain:
● Corporate and Investment Banking through its regional platform.
● International Retail and Financial Services through the retail branches.
● Asset Management and Services through the regional asset management team.
BNP offers a comprehensive range of products to governments, large corporates, mid-side companies, financial institutions and high net worth individuals throughout a network of six commercial branches in the region.
Jean-Christophe Durand, regional director of GCC countries, BNP Paribas said: “Our growth ambitions in the region started with the creation of the BNP Paribas GCC regional hub in Bahrain in 2001.
“Since then, the bank has registered a very sustained revenues growth and its total number of employees in Bahrain has trebled.
“This increase is linked to the geographic expansion in the region and the relocation of several business lines specialists from the head office to Bahrain.”
