Gulf Bank chairman resigns after losses

28 October 2008
The chairman of Kuwait's Gulf Bank, Bassam al-Ghanim, has resigned following revelations that the bank had suffered losses from derivatives trading and the Central Bank of Kuwait stepped in to support the lender.

On 26 October the central bank said it was guaranteeing all deposits in Kuwaiti banks following the news that Gulf Bank had suffered losses from currency derivatives trades.

Although it has not said explicitly how much the losses will be, the bank has been keen to make clear that the losses are the responsibility of its clients, on behalf of whom the trades were made.

However, the losses lead to a funding shortfall that the central bank was called on to solve.

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