Bahrain Islamic Bank B S C : BisB Continues to Support Women’s Empowerment

Bahrain Islamic Bank (BisB), one of the leading banks in the Kingdom in providing digital financial solutions, has reiterated its support for empowering women in the Kingdom's financial sector by way of embedding clearly defined Key Performance Indicators (KPI) within its Sustainability Roadmap, which extends over a period of 3 years. This comes in line with the Bank's strategy towards consistently integrating Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) reporting considerations within its operational framework, which includes continuing to enhance its ability to attract and retain female talent.

Currently, the Bahrainization rate at the Bank stands at 93.4%. Notably, since 2016, BisB has been able to increase the percentage of their female workforce employed, and prides itself on its culture of equal opportunity, which has elected women in senior positions, including the Bank's board of directors. Commenting on the occasion, the Chief Executive of BisB, Hassan Jarrar, revealed, "The Bank has consistently prioritized the need to develop leaders in the industry, by adopting a work culture that inspires out innovative thinking and problem solving. We have always considered our own people to be our most valued asset, striving to empower our human capital by providing them with a significant learning and skills development platform to equip a future-ready industry workforce that provides equal opportunities to both genders, all while maintaining a transformational mindset a culture of innovation from within."

As part of the Bank's commitment to providing equal opportunities for all, the Bank's Human Resources policy has been updated to include benefits that better cater to its female workforce, including reducing working hours for new mothers to six hours, for up to 45 days after giving birth. Moreover, the policy offers increased benefits for mothers, providing the option for them to take leave without pay for a maximum of 6 months at a time, for a maximum three intervals; increased hours for breastfeeding, paid leave to vaccinate kids under the age of 2, and paid leave for the birth of grandchildren, alongside 45 days dedicated for bereavement leave for their spouse.

Commenting on the occasion, Afnan Saleh, Chief Human Resources Officer at BisB, said, "At the core of our Human Resource practices at the Bank, we seek to promote a diverse workforce, and ensuring that we provide a work environment that empowers women is our top priority. Bahraini Women's Day comes to further acknowledge our role in supporting women in the workplace, wherein we continue to provide equal opportunities. This year alone, we have witnessed the participation of 99% of our female employees in 199 courses which seek to further refine and develop their soft and technical skills, equivalent to 4,730 training hours, with an average of 41.5 hours of training for each employee. The percentage of female employees who hold a professional certificate is 32%, out of 34% of the total percentage of women working at BisB. We are proud that the proportion of women among the C-suite and board level at the Bank has reached 43%."

With the theme of Bahraini Women's Day in 2021 being 'Bahraini Women in the National Development - a March of Progress in a Dedicated Nation', this year marks the 20th anniversary of the Supreme Council for Women establishment as a national monument concerned with the advancement of Bahraini women. In addition, this marks as well as the Kingdom's celebration of the 20th anniversary of the National Action Charter which paved the way for completing women's political rights and the resumption of their active participation in various fields