Board of Directors

1. The Code of Conduct shall be circulated to all existing Members of the Board of the Bank and it shall be binding on them.

2. Breaches of the Code shall be dealt with either by the Board of Directors or by a Committee established for this purpose.

1. Members of the Board of Directors shall discharge their duties professionally, with due diligence and to the best of their abilities.

2. A member of the Board must not take any benefit from any projects or investments which are managed by the Bank or promoted to its customers or potential customers except for Board related remuneration in the performance of his/her fiduciary duties to the investors of the project/investment (i.e. Director is appointed as member of the Board of special purpose vehicle or other operating companies set up by the Bank for projects/investments). The Director must not receive any commission, fees, shares/consideration in kind or other remuneration of incentives in respect of the performance of the project/investment. Any Board-related remuneration received by the Director must accordingly be declared to the Board on an annual basis.

1. Members of the Board shall be duty bound to conduct themselves honestly and sensitively with respect to acceptance of certain functions, prerequisites or assignments which could conflict with the knowledge acquired by them in the performance of their duties as members of the Board of Directors of the Bank. They shall continue to be bound by this obligation after termination of their duties.

2. Members of the Board of Directors shall declare forthwith, in writing, to the Chairman of the Board any other official or professional position(s) held by them at any point during their term of their membership in the Board.

3. Members of the Board shall not allow other direct or indirect professional relationships to affect in any way the conduct or their activities for the Bank, and visa versa.  Where a member of  the Board of Directors, using his best judgement, comes to the conclusion that he may have a conflict of interest with regard to a decision to be taken by the Board of Directors, he shall immediately declare so to the Chairman of the Board.  When the Chairman of the Board of Directors is personally involved he shall immediately declare to the Deputy Chairman who will take necessary action.

4. A member or the Chairman of the Board of Directors having declared a conflict of interest concerning a decision of the Board shall leave the meeting room during the time of discussing that subject and if the issue is sent by circulation the concerned member shall abstain from voting on the subject

5. If a member of the Board of Director is offered an official or professional position which may give rise to a permanent conflict of interest as regards his duties and responsibilities as a member of the Board of Directors of the Bank, he shall inform the Chairman of the Board and shall seek to ascertain whether accepting such position would be compatible with his duties and responsibilities as member of the Board.

1. Members of the Board of Directors shall not divulge any confidential information or data coming to their knowledge during the performance of their duties to persons or bodies outside the Bank, other than persons assisting them in the discharge of their duties as Board members, provided that such persons are subject to an equivalent level of confidentiality.  They shall continue to be bound by this obligation after termination of their membership in the Board.

2. Members of the Board of Directors who in the context or course of their duties, have direct or indirect access to or are in possession of inside information of the Bank, its branches and subsidiaries may not make use, either directly or indirectly of this inside information in order to carry out, recommend or advise either in favour of or against transactions involving the Bank or its branches and subsidiaries for their own account or that of third parties.

3. “Inside Information” shall mean information a) which is of precise nature b) has not been made public, c) which if made public would be likely to have a significant effect on the price of securities of the Bank or it subsidiaries.

1. Bank has KP Trading Policy consistent with Bahrain Bourse and CBK’s Guidelines on KPs’ and their dealing in bank’s securities. All members of the Board (elected/nominated) and institutions which nominate directors are considered as KPs.

2. All KPs shall declare, in writing to the Group Corporate Secretary, all requested information in this regard, including ‘connected persons’, ‘controlled corporations’ and ‘corporations in which the KP exercises influence’. The information relates to KP’s, basic data, initial beneficial ownership and subsequent changes thereof.

3. Any changes in basic information and change in ownership regardless of the type of such change and howsoever occurring, from time to time, should be advised to the Group Corporate Secretary by the end of the next business day.

4. The KP should inform his ‘connected persons’, ‘controlled corporations’ and ‘corporation in which person exercises influence’ that he is a KP in the Bank.

5. For the purpose of this Code, any interest in the shares of the Bank held by ‘connected person’ ‘controlled corporations’ and ‘corporation in which person exercises influence’ of the member of the Board of Directors, shall be deemed to be interests of the relevant member of the Board of Directors.

1. Members of the Board of Directors shall not apply for, receive or accept from any source any advantage, direct or indirect, which is in any way connected with his mandate in the Bank. The members of the Board of Directors should therefore discourage the offer of any gift having more than a token value. However, should it be impossible to refuse, notably because such refusal could prove embarrassing to the donor, the gift is to be surrendered to the Bank through the intermediary of the Group Corporate Secretary.

2. Exclusive to the above clause are giveaways, which are defined to be any gift which has a market value of no more than BD 50/- or bears the logo or commercial trade mark of the donor.

In their dealings with Bank staff, members of the Board of Directors shall refrain from exerting any pressure which might result in any infringement of regulations or deviation from procedures, for example in management of the Bank’s assets, award of contracts, management of human resources or financial transactions.

Should the need arise, the members of the Board of Directors shall co-operate fully with persons charged with conducting any regulatory investigation.

The Board for Directors considers the Bank’s customers as one of the important stakeholders as per its corporate governance practices. The Board pays due regard to the legitimate interests and information needs of customers and shall ensure that the Bank communicates with them in a fair and transparent manner.

1. All members of the Board of Directors shall sign this Code of Conduct, including any new members who may assume office as from this date.

2. These signed copies shall be held by the Group Corporate Secretary.