Last year turned out to be better in terms of business than 2009 for Bahrain's financial sector, Bahrain Association of Banks (BAB) chairman Abdulkarim Bucheery told delegates at the BAB annual meeting.

The meeting was attended by chief executives and senior management representing 41 members out of the 77 from the member banks who are entitled to attend.

'The major events the association had committed to early in the year were fully-funded so as not to have any negative impact on the association's results,' said Bucheery.

'Highlights of the year included the association's annual gala dinner and reception in Washington prior to the IMF/World Bank meetings and networking events for visiting delegations from Malta, Senegal, Bermuda, Brazil and Hong Kong,' he said.

'A major milestone in 2010 was the registration of the association with the Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB) and de-registration from the Social Development Ministry.'

'In addition, the board held several consultative meetings with the governor and executive directors of the CBB to share their mutual concerns on the Bahraini economy, banking sector and policy matters,' Bucheery added.

'The year 2010 was a financially-challenging one for the association,' said chief executive officer Robert Ainey.

'We continued a very high pace of activities and growth while not seeing the growth in membership that was expected, despite the positive turnaround in the financial sector.'

'This resulted in a deficit for the year, but the accumulated surplus at the end of 2009 meant that the association is in reasonable financial shape,' he added.

The new board elected at the meeting includes the chairman Bucheery who is BBK chief executive officer, vice-chairman Mohammed Ebrahim Mohammed who is BisB chief executive, Citibank chief executive Mazin Manna, BMI chief executive Jamal Al Hazeem, Oasis Capital Bank chief executive Dr Farid Al Mulla, Al Baraka Bank chief executive Mohammed Al Mutaweh plus two independent directors Isa Abdul Rahmin and Rashed Abdul Rahim.-TradeArabia News Service