Al Baraka Banking Group EGM approves initiation of the license conversion of its Bahrain-based parent company

Al Baraka Banking Group EGM approves initiation of the license conversion of its Bahrain-based parent company

Al Baraka Banking Group B.S.C. (ABG) successfully concluded an Extraordinary General Meeting of its shareholders, which approved the recommendation of its Board of Directors to formally initiate the process of converting the Group's current Islamic Wholesale Bank license in the Kingdom of Bahrain to a Category 1 Islamic Investment Firm license, subject to receiving the necessary approvals from the Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB), under whose regulatory supervision the Group would continue to operate. The meeting, which took place virtually, was presided over by the ABG's Chairman, Shaikh Abdullah Saleh Kamel, and attended by members of its Board of Directors, senior executive management, representative of the Unified Shari'a Supervisory Board and a quorum of shareholders; in addition to representatives from Central Bank of Bahrain, Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Tourism and Bahrain Bourse. The license conversion will allow the Group to change the operational structure of its parent company in Bahrain to better align it to the Group's strategy and business model, while ensuring that it can still continue to fully benefit from the regulatory framework of the CBB. However, the conversion will in no way impact the Group's banking subsidiaries, including Al Baraka Islamic Bank Bahrain, which will