The Bahrain Monetary Agency has granted an initial licence to greenfield Islamic investment bank Masrafy, which will have a paid-up capital of $500 million and an authorised capital of $1,000 million.

The bank will be located in Bahrain Financial Harbour and is targeted at high net worth women in the region. Abu Dhabi Investment House (ADIH), Qatar Islamic Bank and Kuwait Investment House along with high net worth individuals are shareholders in the new bank. ADIH estimates that women in the region have funds at their disposal totalling some $38,000 million.