Bahrain: Central Bank Law Amendments Reviewed

Analysis

Bahrain's Cabinet has reviewed the Ministerial Committee for Legal Affairs' proposals to amend the Kingdom's Central Bank and Financial Institutions Law (Bahrain Law No 64/2002) and referred it to the Council of Representatives for consideration.

The Cabinet approved the adoption of the new international standards on the automatic exchange of information approved recently by the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes and decided they would come into effect at the end of 2018. Although the Kingdom does not have a tax system, its international commitments meant it should adopt the standards.

The Cabinet also approved the Finance Ministry as the competent authority in the Kingdom responsible for the automatic exchange of information with the relevant authorities in member states, together with the Central Bank.