Press Releases
Preliminary Approval to Licensing Doha Bank of Qatar to Open a Branch in the State of Kuwait
H.E. Sheikh Salem Abdulaziz Al-Sabah, the Governor of the Central Bank of Kuwait (CBK), stated that the CBK Board of Directors, in its meeting on 16th of September 2007, preliminarily agreed to license Doha Bank of Qatar to open a branch in the State of Kuwait.
This is the third such approval extended to a national bank of the Gulf Cooperation Council country to open a branch in the State of Kuwait, since the recent amendments of the CBK Law by virtue of Law No. 28/2004, removing the restriction on the access of foreign banks in the local market. Recently, a license was given to the National Bank of Abu Dhabi Branch which operated in November 2005, and the branch of the National Bank of Qatar which is expected to operate before the end of this year.
The CBK Board of Directors had also approved licensing branches of three international banks, i.e. BNP Paribas, HSBC, and Citibank, which started operations in 2005 and 2006.
H.E. the Governor concluded that the next step, according to procedures set forth by the provisions of Law No. 32/1968 and its amendments, is to present the matter to the Council of Ministers for its decision on the approval for opening the branch of Doha Bank in the State of Kuwait.
