KUWAIT, 7 February 2008 — Kuwait’s Global Investment House said yesterday it plans to raise its stake in Bank of Bahrain and Kuwait after buying an 8.81 percent of the Bahraini lender. Global said in a statement on the Kuwait bourse website that it was waiting for Bahraini regulatory approval without saying how big was the stake it planned to buy. Al-Qabas newspaper said last week that Global has acquired 9.3 percent of the Bahrain-based lender.

Commercial Bank Profit Rises 12.7%

Reuters

DUBAI — Commercial Bank of Kuwait, the country’s fourth-largest lender by market value, posted a 12.7 percent rise in fourth quarter profit. Net income in the year Dec. 31 was 120.36 million dinars ($440.3 million), compared with 100 million dinars in the year-earlier period, the firm said in a statement on the bourse website, without giving quarterly data. Net profit in the fourth quarter was 28.16 million dinars, according to Reuters calculations. The bank made 24.99 million dinars in the fourth-quarter of 2006 and 92.2 million dinars in the first nine months of last year, according to earlier data.

EFH Gets UK License Approval

Reuters

DUBAI — European Finance House (EFH), a unit of Qatar Islamic Bank (QIB), has received an investment banking license from the United Kingdom’s Financial Services Authority, the lender said. “London is now widely regarded as the principal financial hub for Islamic banking outside the Middle East and we intend to meet this expanding market,” Chief Executive Michael Clark said.

Shuaa Capital Profit Rises to $58 Million

Reuters

DUBAI — Shuaa Capital, the Dubai-based investment bank which helped arrange the $5 billion DP World IPO, posted a record quarterly profit on higher revenue from its investment banking and asset management business. Net income in the three months to Dec. 31 rose more than four-fold to 213.02 million dirhams ($58 million), almost twice as much as its previous record, the 29-year-old investment bank said in a statement yesterday. Third-quarter revenue jumped 310 percent to 394 million dirhams, it said.