BizBahrain April 2016

Highlights | Banking & Finance
GFH Group Partners Abu
Dhabi Financial Group
Hisham Alrayes, CEO of GFH (left) with Jassim
Alseddiqi, Managing Director and CEO of ADFG
Integrated Capital (IC), the capital
markets arm of Abu Dhabi Financial
Group (ADFG) has raised its stake in
Bahrain-based GFH Financial Group
(GFH) to 10 per cent.
The signing ceremony took place
between Hisham Alrayes, CEO of GFH
and Vice Chairman of FCC, and Jassim
Alseddiqi, Managing Director and CEO of
ADFG and Chairman of Integrated Capital,
at ADFG’s headquarters in Abu Dhabi,
GIB's low volatility equities
Gulf International Bank (GIB) is
now able to offer low volatility
and protected strategies on global and
regional equities.
Bouts of elevated volatility and large
swings in sentiment in some markets in
recent years have caused large swings
in profit and loss for investors who
are also faced with potential losses on
investments. In response to this, GIB,
through its London based subsidiary
GIB UK, announced that for institutional
investors, it can now offer a range of
solutions for portfolios that aim to
experience lower volatility than the
market, can have an element of downside
protection and can have that downside
protection automatically move up when
markets rise.
Jeff Woolsey, Senior Equity Portfolio
Manager at GIB UK commented:
“Currently we run around USD10bn in
equity strategies, but we have recognised
that not all clients want to be fully
exposed to swings in the market. This
suite of solutions allows us to offer clients
UAE. (GFH) announced that under the
agreement IC will acquire a 10% stake in
Falcon Cement Company (FCC) from GFH.
IC has also expressed an interest
in underwriting FCC’s proposed initial
public offering (IPO) planned on the
Bahrain Bourse later in 2016, which is
subject to the receipt of various internal
and regulatory approvals.
Established in 2008, Falcon Cement
Company (FCC) is a highly recognized
integrated cement plant in Bahrain,
manufacturing Ordinary Portland Cement
(OPC) and Sulfate Resistant Cement
(SRC). Currently, FCC has a production
capacity of 350,000 tons per annum,
which is expected to go up to 850,000 tons
with the upcoming launch of a second
production line by end of 2016. Valued
at US$120 million, FCC is the largest and
only integrated cement producer in the
Kingdom of Bahrain. catering to the local
needs of the Kingdom and reducing its
reliance on imported cement. Besides
supplying their products to the local
market, they also export cement to
customers in the region.
Mark Watts, CFA
Chief Executive Officer, GIB UK
an alternative to straight equity exposure
in a low cost, efficient manner.”
These new products are offered to
institutional investors with USD20m or
above to invest and can be structured on
a range of underlying equity indices from
Global to Regional and even on selected
local markets.
Mark Watts, CFA, Chief Executive
Officer of GIB UK added: “This range is
an important addition to our suite of
solutions for our clients and is a clear
example of how we are able to respond
to changing market conditions and offer
investors solutions that are relevant to
their day to day challenges.”
Financial sector
employment shows growth
Employment in Bahrain's financial
services industry grew by 2.8%
during 2015, with a total of 13877 people
employed at end-2015 compared with
13496 at end-2014.
The main driver of job growth
was the non-bank financial sector
(comprising insurance firms, money
changers, financing companies,
investment business firms, and other
non-bank financial institutions) which
added 287 new jobs, an increase of 5.1%,
taking the number to 5860 employees.
Job growth in the money changers hit
10.8% to 1534 jobs in 2015 from 1384 in
2014. In addition, financing companies
and microfinance institutions
registered a job growth of 8.3% to reach
783 jobs for the same period.
The banking sector underwent an
increase in employment by 1.1%. Total
employment in the banking sector
reached 7553 at end-2015 compared
with 7473 at end-2014.
According to the annual survey
conducted by the Central Bank of
Bahrain (CBB), the Bahraini workforce
employed by the financial services
sector reached 9040 in 2015, an
increase of 152 jobs over the 2014 figure
of 8888 jobs. The proportion of Bahraini
women is 38.2% of total Bahraini
workforce under the financial sector up
from 37.4% in 2013 and 37.8% in 2014.
This reflects the special attention paid
to Bahraini women by the government
of Bahrain to employ and promote
more female workers.
60 May 2016