With the recent opening of Phase 1 of the Bahrain Financial Harbour (BFH) on Manama’s seafront, the kingdom seeks to reinforce its position as the region’s powerhouse for all manner of financial services.

The $1.5 billion financial harbour was opened by Bahrain’s Prime Minister Shaikh Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa in the presence of 350 of the world’s leading banking industry professionals, regulators.
The inaugural event included a high-profile conference entitled ‘Middle East Financial Services Summit’ and held in association with the Financial Times Group.
Rasheed Mohammed Al Maraj, Governor of the Central Bank of Bahrain, said the region’s financial sector was undergoing a dramatic transformation and the time was ripe for “the next big growth.”  However, the official pointed out there were “certain aspects of infrastructure and regulation” that were stifling that growth.  
“While, as the Central Bank of Bahrain, we are actively working on the regulation side in the kingdom, it is developments such as the Bahrain Financial Harbour that we believe would play a large role in addressing the issue of meeting the complex and constantly evolving infrastructure needs of the sector,”
Esam Janahi, chairman of BFH, said Bahrain had over the last couple of decades successfully gained the reputation of being the financial hub of the Middle East, driven by forward-looking and open market policies and backed by world-class regulation through the Central Bank of Bahrain and the Bahrain Economic Development Board. Whilst the first half of this decade saw record repartition to the tune of $1.5 trillion back into the region, the last two years had seen the trend being reversed with the emergence of the Middle East as one of the leading global exporters of investments and the emergence of Islamic Finance, pioneered by the region, as a significant alternate to conventional banking globally.
This, Janahi said, had laid the ideal platform for the region to emerge as a leading global financial centre and Bahrain with its leadership in both conventional and Islamic Finance, along with its advanced regulatory framework, strategic position and robust multi-lateral trade agreements including WTO membership and a FTA agreement with the USA was well placed to take significant advantage of that.
However, progress was restricted to some extent because of some limitations in terms of relatively less developed capital and bond markets and the lack of world-class technologically advanced infrastructure. BFH was conceived with the aim of addressing these concerns and in the process significantly contributing to enhancing Bahrain and the region’s position in the global financial markets, Janahi said.
Phase I of the project ‘The Financial Centre,’ which is also the main business district, includes the Harbour Towers – Bahrain’s tallest towers  –  and the Harbour Mall. The Harbour Towers will provide prime office and commercial space for the financial services industry while the Harbour Mall will house high-quality retail outlets and cafes, other leisure facilities as well as brokerage and trading firms. Additionally, development of Phase II of the project, the $450 million Villamar @ the Harbour, which is also a key residential component, is well underway.