With its powerful regulator, the Bahrain Monetary Authority (BMA), licensing some 364 financial institutions — over half of them banks - Bahrain prides itself on being the hub of the Gulf's financial services industry. It is pushing everything from a major new real estate development, the Bahrain Financial Harbour (BFH), to an ever-stronger regulatory regime to maintain this status (see The Banker, June 2004, page 92). Bahrain's strong regulatory record is a major plus in the post-9/11 climate of suspicion over financial flows from the Islamic world, allowing it to consolidate its international status in the face of stiff competition from other centres, most notably the ultra-ambitious emirate of Dubai.
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