Manama:The Central Bank of Bahrain's (CBB) Board of Directors conducted its third meeting of 2026, presided over by Hassan Khalifa Al Jalahma. During the meeting, the Board reviewed various agenda items, including a presentation by Khalid Ibrahim Humaidan, Governor of the CBB, on the latest developments concerning the bank's key priorities. Additionally, the Board assessed the CBB's performance report and other achievements within the year, as well as the progress of the second edition of the Graduate Development Programme (GP15). The success of the program's first edition was highlighted by a significant increase in applications. Discussions also included updates on the CBB's Artificial Intelligence Strategy.
According to Bahrain News Agency, the Board also evaluated key monetary and banking developments up to August 2026. A notable increase in domestic liquidity was observed, with the M3 money supply reaching BD 17.8 billion at the end of August 2026, marking a BD 1.4 billion rise compared to the same period in 2025. Retail banks' private sector deposits grew by 8.0% to around BD 14.6 billion. The outstanding balance of loans and credit facilities to resident economic sectors saw a 7.8% increase, reaching BD 13.6 billion. The business sector accounted for 39.4%, while the personal sector accounted for 47.6% of total loans and credit facilities.
Further discussions revealed that the consolidated balance sheet of the banking system, which includes retail and wholesale banks, reached USD 247.0 billion by the end of August 2026, showing a slight increase of 0.1% from the previous year. Point of sale data indicated 181.7 million transactions from January to August 2026, with 77.2% utilizing contactless cards, representing a 6.6% increase over the same period in 2025. However, the total transaction value in August 2026 decreased by 2.1% to BD 3.4 billion.
The banking sector's capital adequacy ratio improved to 21.3% by the end of the second quarter of 2026, compared to 20.2% a year earlier. Conventional retail banks reported a capital adequacy ratio of 27.2%, conventional wholesale banks 18.0%, Islamic retail banks 25.5%, and Islamic wholesale banks 16.2%.
The total number of investment funds registered with the CBB reached 1,683 by June 2026. Investment fund assets grew from USD 10.915 billion at the end of the second quarter of 2025 to USD 11.505 billion in 2026, marking a 5.41% increase. Assets of Islamic investment funds rose by 42.14% to USD 2.928 billion, while Bahrain-domiciled investment funds saw a 1.89% increase to USD 4.425 billion. Foreign-domiciled investment funds' assets increased by 7.75% to USD 7.081 billion.