GCC banks lenders unite to be leaner and efficient in tough conditions - The National

GCC banks lenders unite to be leaner and efficient in tough conditions - The National:

Financial institutions in the region, home to one-third of the world’s proven oil reserves, are consolidating like never before. There is a banking merger transaction happening, or has recently been agreed upon in every GCC-member country.

“The news is coming together so it looks like a wave of mergers and they are all related but they are not. There are different reasons at work,” said Chiro Ghosh, an analyst with Sico Bank in Bahrain.

“In most cases, it is to gain the scale and be competitive in changing markets, while in others it is strategic decision such as in the case of Saudi merger [between Saudi British Bank and Alawaal]. None of the deals are related to asset quality issues and it’s not the case of one bank coming to rescue the other one in a merger,” he said.