Fast tracking financial disputes resolution

Manama : Plans are on the anvil to create a comprehensive judicial system specialising in financial and banking cases in Bahrain, it was revealed yesterday. 

Chief Executive of the Bahrain Association of Banks Dr.Waheed Al Qassim said this while speaking at a meeting organised by the Bahrain Association of Banks. 

Commenting, Dr. Al Qassim said the association “will work in the coming period to develop the initial vision of what might be called a Banking Court or Jury.”

The move is also expected to reinforce the pioneering of the financial and banking sector in the Kingdom.

Primary mission of the facility will be to resolve disputes that arise from financial and banking transactions taking place in Bahrain. 

The move also aims to speed up the process of dispute resolution in the Kingdom with efficiency, while taking into account the specialised nature of financial and banking cases and the expertise required. 

Legal experts and officials from a number of banks and financial institutions and law firms attended the meeting.  

Highlighting the efforts exerted by the Central Bank of Bahrain in creating a comprehensive judicial system specialising in financial and banking cases, Dr.Qassim  said the guidelines developed by the association will be presented to the Central Bank of Bahrain. In this regard, Marina Al Ashqar, Head of Legal Matters in Al Ahli United Bank, stressed on the importance of strengthening the judicial body by including those with expertise in dealing cases related to financial and banking sectors. 

Noora Janahi, a partner in the Hassan Radhi & Associates Law Firm, said, “The Bahrain Chamber for Dispute Settlement plays a major role in settling banking disputes, but pointed out that the Chamber only looks into cases worth more than half a million dinars, while there is an urgent need to apply Chamber expertise to banking cases, no matter what their financial value.”