Bahrain

Bahrain is a regional wholesale and Islamic banking centre with a small domestic economy. The Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB) licensed 83 banks in January 2025: 29 retail banks (13 locally incorporated, 16 foreign branches) and 54 wholesale banks, 15 of them Islamic. Banking-system assets were US$249.0bn in July 2026, about five times GDP, split almost evenly between retail banks (US$125.3bn, or BD47.1bn) and wholesale banks (US$123.6bn). Foreign assets account for 58% of the total, reflecting the offshore orientation of the wholesale segment.