Kuwait’s National Assembly has given its provisional approval to foreign banks wishing to operate in the emirate. A newly passed bill would amend a law allowing the Central Bank of Kuwait (CBK) to grant licenses foreign financial institutions.
The draft law was approved by 38 votes in favor out of 51 members of parliament attending, nine against and four abstentions, reported KUNA.
In line with a recently implemented Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) law, the new policy stipulates that local personnel must hold at least half of any foreign bank’s available posts by the third year of operations.
Kuwait has seven commercial banks, one of which, the Bank of Bahrain and Kuwait, is a foreign joint venture. Apart from this exception, foreign banks are presently not allowed to operate within Kuwait or hold shares in Kuwaiti banks. — (menareport.com)
© 2003 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
