Bahrain would like to stress that it is still a big private banking centre – although Coutts is hiring mostly in Dubai

SocGen may have closed its private banking office in Bahrain (whilst remaining open in Dubai and Abu Dhabi), and Coutts may be looking for up to 20 new Middle Eastern staff (with 15 in Dubai and the remainder in Abu Dhabi and Doha), but it’s not all over yet for Bahrain.

The Kingdom has been fighting back this week. The Bahrain Economic Development Board issued a press release on Monday pointing out that the number of financial institutions registered in Bahrain rose 12 last year, to 415, with new entrants including Canara Bank, AMP Capital Investors and Deloitte Corporate Finance.

“We at EDB are very pleased by the strong performance of the financial sector over the last year,” Shaikh Mohammed bin Essa Al-Khalifa, Chief Executive of the Bahrain Economic Development Board declared.

In a follow-up piece of positive communications today, HE Rasheed Al Maraj, governor of the Central Bank of Bahrain made a speech at the Euromoney GCC Private Banking Conference, pointing out that Bahrain has improved rules relating to market and business conduct and that these, and other initiatives undertaken during the year, “demonstrate that Bahrain is a safe jurisdiction in which to undertake business.”

This may be the case. However, the real test of Bahrain’s success will be whether other firms moving into the Gulf follow the example set by the Swiss firm Swiss firm Altaira Wealth Management

and choose the Kingdom for their base. Until then, the jury is out.