The Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB) has granted a licence to Lazard Asset Management to establish a representative office in Bahrain.

Lazard Asset Management provides investment management and advisory services to institutional clients, financial intermediaries and private clients around the world.

Its goal is to produce superior risk-adjusted investment returns and provide customised solutions for its clients. It has operations in the US, Europe, Asia and Australia.

Lazard Asset Management will provide asset management advice to clients located in Bahrain and the wider GCC, including both conventional and Sharia-compliant products and services.

The representative office in Bahrain will be managed by Lazard Asset Management's director of client service and business development for the Middle East, Edward Remington-Hobbs. He will report to Bill Smith, head of Lazard Asset Management's London office.

The licence was formally ratified at a meeting in Manama hosted by Economic Development Board of Bahrain (EDB) chief executive Shaikh Mohammed bin Essa Al Khalifa in the presence of Smith, Remington-Hobbs and CBB Governor Rasheed Al Maraj, director of financial institutions Mohammed Ayman Al Tajer and director of licensing Ahmed Bassam.

The EDB has played an active role in facilitating the establishment of Lazard Asset Management's presence in the Kingdom.

"Lazard Asset Management has been managing mandates for clients in the Middle East for a number of years, and it has been our intention for some time to establish a presence in the region," said Smith.

"We have been delighted with the relationships we have built with many investors in the Middle East. Our new Bahrain office gives us the opportunity to develop these relationships

"The EDB is delighted to welcome Lazard Asset Management, one of the world's pre-eminent asset management firms to Bahrain," said Shaikh Mohammed.

"One of our key objectives is to work with leading businesses such as Lazard Asset Management to encourage them to set up in the kingdom.

"This move by Lazard Asset Management endorses our position as the natural choice for asset management advisers looking to develop their Gulf business in response to growing regional demand," he added.-TradeArabia News Service