Kuwait's Gulf Bank trading to resume on Tuesday

Shares of Gulf Bank in Kuwait will resume trading on Tuesday, after they were suspended late last year, state news agency KUNA reported on Sunday.

The bank is one of the country’s largest financial institutions, and was one of the first in the region to report losses in the wake of the subprime fallout that had brought some of the world’s largest financial houses to their knees.

“The central bank decides to resume the trading in shares of Gulf Bank starting the day after tomorrow,” KUNA said in an alert.

In October, the central bank halted trading in Gulf Bank until the end of a restructuring plan ordered by the government after the bank said it made 375 million dinars ($1.29 billion) in derivatives losses.

In December the bank made a rights issue for 376 million dinars, which was taken up by existing shareholders and the Kuwait Investment Authority (KIA), the country’s sovereign wealth fund. The KIA now holds a 16 per cent stake in the institution.END