BBK and BIBF launch a special Program to Support Women Presence on Boards

Tuesday, 22 November 2022

BBK, Bahrain’s pioneer in retail and commercial banking, announced the launch of a mentorship and training program aimed exclusively at enabling women to advance in their career, including board membership in companies and organizations. The initiative highlights once again BBK’s continued contribution in the advancement and empowerment of Bahrainis women. The program also comes in line with the directives of our esteemed government that aim to increase the representation of women in leadership and decision-making roles.

BBK will carry out this initiative in collaboration with BIBF (Bahrain Institute of Banking & Finance). The two parties signed a cooperation agreement at the Bank’s headquarters, whereby twenty selected trainees will take part in the program that will consist of eight weeks of intensive training led by international training experts.

On the occasion of the signing ceremony, Dr AbdulRahman Saif, BBK Group Chief Executive, stressed on the importance of the representation of women on boards of directors. This initiative is part of the Bank’s keenness in ensuring gender diversity, hiring more women, developing their skills, and giving them the opportunity to advance in their careers. In addition to encouraging them to keep up with the most recent advancements in business and finance, and to lead in the workplace through creativity and innovation; in a way that benefits the Kingdom of Bahrain and promotes economic growth.”

“This program comes also in response to the directives of HRH Prince Salman Al Khalifa, Crown Prince and Prime Minister, and the new provisions conveyed by the CBB and the Ministry of Industry and Commerce to amend the Charter of Corporate Governance ensuring the representation of women in the Board of Directors. It is also in line with vision of the Supreme Council for the advancement of women in the Kingdom.

Dr Ahmed Al-Shaikh, BIBF Director, expressed the institute’s eagerness to meet BBK’s aspirations through this program and that it is fully prepared to allocate the necessary capabilities, training content, and trainers for this program.

It is worth noting that BBK recently appointed seven women on the Board of its to subsidiary. The Bank also takes pride of the having won first place among private sector institutions few years ago in Her Royal Highness Princess Sabeeka bint Ibrahim Al Khalifa’s Award for Women Empowerment.

Other women driven initiatives were launched in the past years such as the Digital literacy program, training more than 100 women to deal with digital transformation.

Internally the Bank had a Women Empowerment Committee and has introduced since 2015, a Chief Executive Award for Women Empowerment.

Details of the criteria to apply for the program and the application dates will be announced soon.