The Internal Audit Charter  defines and describes the  principles and basic operational concepts of the Internal Audit within NBB. In addition, the Charter also defines the set of principles and rules which Auditors must adhere to when performing their roles. The Charter is in compliance with the current legal and regulatory framework.

To view the Internal Audit Charter please click here.

1. Employee Training and Development:

The Bank recognizes the importance of having a skilled workforce to achieve strategic and operational plans and is committed to providing an environment that is a conducive to effective performance and promotes training and development opportunities for all employees

The main purpose is to ensure having the required competencies in place to meet the performance and quality standards of functions, Line Managers are responsible to propose learning objectives and plans of their subordinates to develop their set of skills through training courses and external learning exposure.

2. Equal Opportunity:

The Bank believes in equality and fairness when it comes to its recruitment policy. The criteria of the selection process will not be biased towards a certain gender, age, disability, marital status or any other elements falling outside the scope of the Bank’s business and operational needs or requirements of the law.

In addition, the Bank fully supports the employment of qualified persons with disabilities as required by law. Accordingly, the Bank does not discriminate against the employment of persons for any job which they can competently perform.

3. Diversity and Inclusion

Diversity and Inclusion is a pillar within the Bank’s Donations and Contributions Policy. It is set in place in order to embrace the differences between people in various forms including gender, age, religion, disabilities, personality, ethnicity, skill set, experience, knowledge base, and background. As such the fund under the Donations and Contributions policy is will enhance acceptance of diversification in the society.

4. Community Initiatives and promotion of social and economic development

NBB’s commitment to its social responsibility is evident through an established Donations Policy that covers Education, healthcare and Social Welfare. NBB has always been and will continue to be committed to allocate 5% of its annual net profits to the support of various programs and initiatives that fall under the 7 Donations and Contributions pillars.

5. Nationalization

In line with Bahrain’s 2030 vision to reduce the unemployment rate in the country, NBB’s recruitment is aligned with prioritizing employment opportunities to Bahraini candidates if found suitable to meet the Bank’s business and operational needs.

National Bank of Bahrain has adopted a set of operating principles which govern how risks of a significant business disruption are mitigated to protect the Bank’s customers, employees and stakeholders. The Bank has a robust and well defined business continuity program which comprises of Policies and Procedures with clearly defined roles, responsibilities and ownership for Crisis Management, Emergency Response, Business recovery and IT Disaster Recovery Planning. The Bank’s BCP steering committee, represented by the Senior Executive Management of the Bank, oversees the Board approved annual BCP strategy and road map. Regular drills and tests are conducted to cover all aspects of the Business Continuity Plan. Plans are reviewed and maintained regularly to incorporate any changes to environment, people, process and technology. The Bank’s Business Continuity function continuously works towards strengthening the business continuity preparedness of the Bank. The Bank’s Business continuity program has been developed to manage the impact of significant disruptions and will endeavour to resume business and operations to an acceptable level within a reasonable time in the event of a disaster. While the recovery time objectives (RTO) have been defined and documented in the plans, various external factors beyond our control could affect the actual recovery time. The Bank’s business continuity plan is in line with the regulatory requirements, guidelines issued by regulatory authorities from time to time and is subjected to periodic internal, external and regulatory reviews. In case of a disruption or disaster, where the customers’ access to services, transactions or branches is impacted, the Bank would move the operations as specified by the BCP to an alternate location from where the services would be rendered. The customers can also contact the Bank through the phone banking numbers. In the event of a prolonged disruption to one of the branches or other facility locations, the BCP provides for an extended relocation of staff to an alternate location, from where services would be provided. In scenarios where the customers cannot access the Bank through the normal telephone lines, the Bank’s website would be updated with relevant information.

Thus, the Bank’s Business Continuity Plan is designed to facilitate resumption of operations as quickly as possible, given the scope and severity of the significant business disruption.

The Bank’s Corporate Governance policies are crafted to promote the effective functioning of the Board and its committees and attending to the interests of stakeholders in a manner appropriate to public interest.

To view the Corporate Governance Guidelines please click here.

The objective of this policy is to provide current, former or temporarily employees of the Bank, vendors, auditors, consultants or any other service providers with the opportunity to access in good faith, the Chairperson of the Board Audit Committee, in case they observe unethical or improper practices in the Bank. 

To view the Whistle Blower Policy please click here.

If you have concerns about wrongful conduct, unethical or improper activity within National Bank of Bahrain, including fraud, corruption, abuse, unethical or malicious behavior, please raise your concerns through our confidential and independent channels:

• Email: whistleblowing@nbbonline.com
• Mail: Chairperson of the Board Audit Committee, NBB Old Tower, PO Box 106, Manama, Kingdom of Bahrain
• Whistleblowing web portal  
   

The level of confidence our clients' place in the integrity of our representatives is a significant measure of our success. To maintain your trust, we implement a values-based culture across all levels of NBB. Our Code of Conduct serves to guide the actions and decision of every member of our team.

For Members of the Board of Directors and Senior Management

1. The members of the Board of Directors and the members of the senior management team should be of high integrity, honest and ethical in conducting their duties and responsibilities.
2. Board members and senior management should always respect, abide by and comply with laws and regulations relating to the activities of the Bank. The Board members and senior management should always ensure their commitment to adopting and adhering to industry best practice standards and laws governing the countries in which the Bank operates in. This would require adherence to laws and regulations of stock exchange authorities, financial regulatory institutions, International Accounting and Disclosure Standards for reporting of financial statements, labour laws and commercial laws as applicable.
3. Board members and senior management should maintain and preserve the confidentiality of the Bank’s affairs including the affairs of the customers and other stakeholders even after resigning their posts unless required to do so by the law.
4. Board members and senior management should avoid conflict of interest in all their dealings with the Bank. Their dealings with the Bank should be transparent at all times and they should disclose the necessary information in this regard, if required. The Board members and senior management should also absent themselves from decision making on areas/subjects/transactions where they may have a vested interest or perceived conflict of interest. Board members and senior management should declare to the Board of their other interests and activities in other enterprises, if any, (whether as a shareholder of above 5% of the voting capital of the company, as a manager, or other form of significant participation) on an annual basis.
5. Board members and senior management should abide and fully comply with the Insider Trading rules and regulations. Board members and senior management should comply with all disclosure requirements in this regard.
6. No member of the Board or senior management should accept any gifts, favors, service of any kind from customers, suppliers or the Bank’s other stakeholders in return for favors of any kind such as facilitating or approving loans, credit facilities, favorable pricing etc.
7. Board members and senior management should conduct their duties for the best interests of the Bank and its stakeholders and should not engage in activities that compete with the Bank’s business activities. The Board members and senior management should at all times conduct themselves keeping in mind the objectives of the Bank and the Bank’s responsibilities to its customers, shareholders, staff and the wider community in which it operates in.
8. Board members and senior management should abide by the Bank’s policy, its rules and its regulations and should act in accordance with the authorities granted to them by the shareholders/Board of Directors.
9. Board members and senior management should ensure that proper judgment is exercised whenever a decision is taken with regard to approving credit facilities, investments, capital expenditure etc by ensuring that the necessary information has been obtained and where expert opinion or advice is required, such opinion or advice should be obtained.
10. Board members and senior management should ensure that the Bank is governed and managed in a transparent manner with clearly defined roles and responsibilities.
11. The Board members and senior management should encourage adherence to good employment practices in areas of hiring, work conditions, equal opportunities, grievance redressal, promotion policies and remuneration policies.
12. The Board members and senior management should not use their position in the Bank that results in misuse of the Bank’s assets for their personal gain.

The code sets out the minimum standards for banks and financing companies to follow when providing credit and other services on which fees and/or interest are payable by personal customers in the Kingdom of Bahrain.

To view the Code of Best Practice on Consumer Credit and Charging please click here.

National Bank of Bahrain B.S.C has been established in the Kingdom of Bahrain since 1957 as a conventional retail bank licensed, regulated and supervised by the Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB). NBB is a public share holding company listed in Bahrain Bourse.

The CBB requires all conventional banks in Bahrain to comply with the applicable laws, regulations and must implement programmes against Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing by establishing and maintaining appropriate systems and controls to limit the vulnerability to Financial Crime. Specifically, as a condition of the banking license granted to each bank, the CBB requires banks to comply with all aspects of legislation and regulations related to anti-money laundering and combating terrorist financing mandated by the Financial Crime Module of the CBB, including Customer Due Diligence (CDD) rules outlined in the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision paper and FATF 40 recommendations.

NBB complies in full with the relevant legislations, CBB rules and guidance of the Financial Crime Module, which is based on the principles of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). Processes implemented by NBB include the following.

• An independent AML Department has been established which is in charge of the Bank’s Anti-money laundering Function. This Department handles the reporting of suspicious transactions to the relevant authorities.
• Customer identification procedures, Know Your Customer (KYC) must always be complied with both at the time of establishing business relations and thereafter on an on-going basis. The key elements of our customer screening and monitoring procedures are (i) verifying the identity of the customer and the source of funds prior establishing a relationship (ii) account transaction monitoring mechanism and reporting of suspicious transactions involved in money laundering or other unlawful activities to the appropriate local supervisory regulatory authority (iii) enhanced due diligence (EDD) on customers considered as higher risk category (iv) record- keeping, compliance systems and inspections by audit and regulatory authority.
• On-going account monitoring of PEP-accounts is implemented.
• Regular employee training programs are held bank-wide to spread awareness among employees to identify suspicious activities, actions to be taken on detection of such activity and on reporting mechanisms.
• NBB is fully committed to remaining vigilant to prevent the use of our products and services by those who seek to abuse them. Operating procedures are reviewed and updated regularly to ensure that the impact of changes in legislation or guidelines is incorporated immediately.
• Adequate procedures are in place to ensure that reporting takes place without disclosure of the employee’s identity thus providing them protection from adverse reactions.
• National Bank of Bahrain B.S.C is compliant with the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) Regulations. And NBB has been included in the first list of participating Foreign Financial Institutions (FFIs) on the IRS website.
• Regular, independent internal and external audits are conducted to ensure that the Bank fulfills its obligations under the Anti-Money laundering and combating terrorist financing rules and the Bank’s procedures.

The objective of this policy is to govern dealings in the shares of the Bank by the Bank’s Board of Directors, senior management and such other persons who have access to insider information.

To view the Key Persons’ Dealing Policy please click here.

To access the shareholders rights’ document, please click here.

To access the Investor Complaints Framework document, please click here

NBB Group is committed to the Health & Safety, and wellbeing of its employees, customers, visitors, contractors and tenants. The Group aims to provide a safe and secure working environment by embedding Health & Safety practices into our daily operations and ensure alignment to Group’s Code of Conduct.

Group Health & Safety policy is implemented in line with the local laws and regulations, and recognizes international best practices as well as international guidelines issued by World Health Organisation (WHO). The policy describes appropriate standards to ensure Health & Safety risks are controlled within risk tolerance across our workplace. We have also established Health & Safety framework addressing areas related to risk assessments and risk mitigation in order to prevent accidents and protect Group’s staff and assets.

It is the responsibility of all staff to assist the Group with implementing and maintaining these deployed practices and take ownership in reporting any unsafe practice witnessed across the premises.

As a Group, we are committed to the continuous improvement of Health & Safety performance and increase staff awareness by periodically conducting Health & Safety and Security trainings that are reconciled with HR records.