Bahrain Development Bank provides a variety of financial services that are tailored to meet the needs of small and medium businesses in Bahrain. These includes business finance, Islamic financing and Tamkeen finance to manufacturing, agribusiness, healthcare and other services sectors. BDB's headquarters are in Diplomatic Area, Manama, Bahrain., the total asset valuation of the bank was approximately US$514 Million, with shareholder's equity of about US$204.77 million and a branch network of six full-fledged branches and two satellite branches.
History
The BDB was established by Legislative Decree number 19 on 11 December 1991 and commenced operations a bank on 20 January 1992. Its main agenda was to promote investments in Bahrain especially in crucial industries. In 2014, BDB signed an agreement with Small Industries Development Bank of India to promote start-ups. In this agreement, SIDBI committed to providing technical assistance to BDB in risk management and credit management to further BDB's missions. In 2014, BDB launched the Imagine Cup Competition in collaboration with Microsoft to support entrepreneurs and creators establish solutions geared to resolve some of the world's toughest challenges. In 2015, Moody's assigned a Baa2/Prime-2/Negative rating to BDB due to the bank's high risk loan portfolio and reliance of public funding.
Member companies
Other than its development banking core business, BDB also has subsidiaries and investments that are geared towards achieving its objectives. The companies that comprise the Bahrain Development Bank subsidiaries and investments include, but are not limited, to the following: Bahrain Business Incubator Centre – 100 percent shareholding – Development and assistance to emerging entrepreneurs. BDB SME Fund Company – 99 percent shareholding – Managing SME funds Middle East Corner Consultancy – 28.6 percent shareholding – Consultancy to small and medium enterprises Arabian Taxi Company – 20 percent shareholding – Operating and managing taxi services. EBDA Bank – 20 percent shareholding – Providing microfinance and related advisory services. All these subsidiaries and investments are held in Bahrain.
Ownership
The shares of the stock of Bahrain Development Bank are all held by the Government of Bahrain. This makes BDB a government parastatal.
Governance
Bahrain Development Bank is governed by an eight-person Board of Directors with Mohammed Bin essa al Khalifa serving as the Chairman of the group and Sanjeev Paul as the CEO.
