Dubai, Jan 10: Bahrain has granted an offshore banking unit (OBU) licence to ICICI bank, India's second largest bank, and has approved "in principle" a restricted full commercial bank licence for the State Bank of India. The two Indian banks were among only four foreign banks who were granted licences, the Bahrain Monetary Agency (BMA) said. The new licences were recently approved by Shaikh Khalifa Bin Salman Al Khalifa, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Bahrain and Chairman of the BMA Board, on the eve of his four-day visit to India beginning Sunday.
Shaikh Khalifa will be heading a high-power delegation of ministers, top government officials and business and industry leaders during his visit. The BMA is also extending a special concession to ICICI Bank to offer its non-resident Indian (NRI) banking services in the Gulf nation as well as in the international market, said Ahmed Abul Aziz Al Bassam, Director, Licensing and Policy, BMA. ICICI Bank with assets worth $22 billion has a network of 550 branches in India, in addition to overseas operations in Canada, USA, UK, China and Singapore.
The restricted full commercial bank licence will enable the State Bank of India (SBI), to offer NRI services and certain retail services, such as mutual funds and capital market services, in Bahrain, a statement by BMA said.