Press Releases

H.E. Sheikh Salem Abdulaziz Al-Sabah, the Governor of Central Bank of Kuwait (CBK) has stated that the CBK Board of Directors, in its meeting on 4th of May 2008, preliminarily agreed to license Musqat Bank of the Sultanate of Oman to open a branch in the State of Kuwait.

This is the fifth 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 amendment of the CBK law removing the restriction on the entry of foreign banks in the local market. Prior to this license, four licenses were extended to a branch of each the National Bank of Abu Dhabi, the National Bank of Qatar, the Doha Bank, and Al-Rajhi Bank. Two of the branches have already been registered in the Banks' Register of the CBK and are now fully operational in the State of Kuwait. These are the National Bank of Abu Dhabi and the National Bank of Qatar.

It may be noted that 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 of a branch of Musqat Bank in the State of Kuwait.