TDT | Manama
Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com
Citi has opened a global technology hub at its Bahrain facility.
The city’s tech hub is part of a long-term strategic partnership between Tamkeen and Bahrain Economic Development Board (EDB) and aims to create 1,000 coding jobs over the next decade, making it one of the most advanced hubs in the region.
The technology hub will support many of Citi’s global businesses and clients and accelerate the development of digital solutions. Citi chose Bahrain as the location for its new technology hub for several reasons, including availability of a skilled workforce, regulatory transparency and government support.
“Citi’s industry-leading global foreign exchange business will be the first to hire technologists in the technology hub,” said Alaa Sayed, global head of electronic platforms and delivery at CitiFX.
“Our initial focus in Bahrain will be on engineering Citi’s flagship proprietary platform, enhancing execution and connectivity capabilities across FX trading and analytical systems. Over time, the Bahrain tech hub will expand to support Citi Markets and Citi’s institutional client group more broadly, further increasing the range of capabilities developed locally.”
At the heart of the program is Bahrain’s labour fund, TAMKEEN, which as part of its efforts aims to create new job opportunities to increase competitiveness and employability in the private sector, improve individuals’ skills and foster career development through programs that enable them to enter international markets and become leaders in their fields.
“The pace of automation and digitisation has accelerated rapidly across the financial services industry over the past two years,” said Michel Sawaya, CEO of Citi Bahrain.
“Our new technology hub in Bahrain will enable us to rapidly scale up and meet the growing global customer demand for electronic solutions. We are excited to be based here and leverage Bahrain’s diverse talent pool to employ highly skilled engineers with strong business experience. We are confident that this hub will be successful in creating technologies that will benefit our customers around the world.”
Elisar Farah Antonios, head of Middle East and North Africa (MENA) at Citi, said: “This new technology hub brings us one step closer to delivering better customer experiences in a highly digitalized world, making a significant contribution to client success. It also underscores our efforts to position the Kingdom of Bahrain as a strategic hub for innovation.”
Tamkeen CEO Hussein Mohammed Rajab emphasised the importance of such programmes for potential investors to realise Bahrain’s wealth of talented talent.
“Bahrain has a proven track record that reflects the local workforce readiness and global competitiveness, strengthening the Kingdom’s position to attract direct investment in all priority sectors,” he said.
“We value our strategic partnership with the EDB and all the stakeholders in Team Bahrain. Tamkeen aims to deliver economic growth and impact by supporting private sector productivity, innovation, digitalization, internationalization and building human capital advantage, especially in technology and emerging skills.”
Khalid Humaidan, chief executive officer of Bahrain Economic Development Bank, said Bahrain has been renowned for the strong foundations of its financial services sector for decades.
“The program we have agreed with Citi is a perfect example of the efforts we are undertaking to advance our country’s economy and remain at the forefront of digital transformation,” he said.
“This is an opportunity for the Kingdom of Bahrain to make a global impact from Bahrain. Bahraini talent will support Citi’s ambitions to deliver around the world. At EDB, we continue to travel the world to attract global benchmark companies like Citi to set up their operations in the Kingdom and benefit from our world-class infrastructure and talent. We are excited to take our relationship with Citi to the next level and look forward to seeing them thrive in the Kingdom.”
Citi has been present in the MENA region for over 50 years. Its organizational capabilities in the region include corporate and investment banking, capital markets, sales and trading, transaction services, equity research and Islamic banking. Citi’s consumer banking operations in MENA cover the UAE and Bahrain, and Citi maintains close relationships with affluent and high net worth clients in the region through Citi Global Wealth.
