Bahrain Financial Harbour Holding Company (BFHHC) had signed a lease agreement with India's HDFC Bank to take over the entire 49th floor in the West Tower.

'Bahrain has been on our radar for quite some time due to its various attractive facets,' said HDFC senior vice-president KSR Upadhya.

'Among these are the facts that around 300,000 Indians work in the country. As more local companies grow overseas and acquisitions continue to increase, it makes sense for Indian banks to have a global presence.'

'Additionally, the capital markets are becoming integrated and businesses owned by Indians living overseas are increasing.'

'HDFC Bank registered excellent financial results earning total income of Rs12,398 crore ($2951.91 million) for the year ended March 31 this year as against Rs8164.16 crore the previous year registering a growth of 51 per cent,' he said.

'Against such a backdrop, we were on the lookout for a perfect setting which would not only be a prime scenic waterfront property, but also facilitate optimal business gains,' he said.

'As a result of an exhaustive selection process we identified BFH as being an integrated cluster model and its next-generation technologically-advanced office environment as the ideal location,' he added.

'It is a well-known fact that Bahrain has been strengthening its legal and regulatory framework for financial services with a view to providing a wide-ranging, straightforward and user-friendly platform for banks and other financial services market participants to establish a presence and operate in adherence of international best practices,' said BFHHC marketing director Salwan Uchi.

Bahrain Financial Harbour (BFH) has always assisted these initiatives by providing an environment which would complement the business requirements of new entrants and in the process reinforced Bahrain's unsurpassed position as the financial capital of the Middle East, he added.-TradeArabia News Service