KUWAIT, Nov 03, 2009 (Kuwait Times - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX News Network) --

Mashreq, Dubai's second largest lender, opened its first branch in Kuwait with a capital of KD 15 million. Jassem Mohammad Al-Kharafi, Kuwait's Parliament Speaker and Abdul Aziz Al-Ghurair, CEO of Mashreq and Speaker of the House at the Federal National Council of UAE, attended the inauguration of the new branch in Kuwait City, Sunday evening.

Addressing the press at the branch-opening, Al-Kharafi said that such establishments enhance the cooperation between the UAE and Kuwait. "If we want to bring together the interests of the Gulf countries we have to have more establishments of this kind," he said.

In Al-Ghurair's words, the new venture demonstrates Mashreq's strategic plans to expand in the Middle East and North Africa region. "We are here because we believe in inter-GCC investment. More and more of this investment will promote more growth in the region," he told a pack of reporters after the official inauguration of the branch, elaborating that extending the bank's network into Kuwait is a great step for Meshraq.

Kuwait is a very important market with a mature banking system and a healthy economy. Mashreq will be a trusted gateway for all UAE investments in Kuwait. We will also assist all our Kuwaiti clients and companies working and investing in the UAE, Egypt, Qatar and Bahrain," Al-Ghurair was quoted in a press release as saying.

With this branch opening, Mashreq -- the seventh foreign bank branch to be registered with the Commercial Bank of Kuwait since the country's legislation was amended to allow the opening of international banks in Kuwait -- brought its extended network of branches across the MENA region to 94.

When asked if expansion into Kuwait could be interpreted as a possible move closer to a single Gulf currency, Al-Ghurair said, "More inter GCC investment on whatever scale and type will help and lead us to a common economy. Eventually we will have a common economy that will be open to everybody." Stressing that the UAE and Oman are yet to decide on the common currency, Al-Ghurair explained that before moving toward a common currency there are issues that need "to be sorted out.

He took the point further by saying that each Gulf country needs to go through internal regulation and to have the same monetary policy. "If one country has inflation and another country does not have inflation" a single currency will not work, he said adding, "all this needs to be brought to one level before we move into a common currency.

Al-Ghurair, who also sits on the board of directors of the Dubai International Financial Centre, Emirates Foundation and Dubai Economic Council, foresees banking and finance confidence edging upward. "We have seen the worst. Things will only get better," he said quoting projections for a 2.5 per cent growth in the GCC in the next year." This, he observed, is a pretty good growth against the backdrop of what we have seen in the Gulf and the rest of the world and which was caused by the slowdown.

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