Foreign banks have reportedly said that they are not yet ready to raise the national employment rate to at least 70 percent at all levels of employment, including executive positions, reports Al-Rai daily quoting reliable official sources.

The sources pointed out that the foreign bank branches in a coordinated move will address the issue to the Central Bank of Kuwait, which had recently asked all banks operating in Kuwait to intensify efforts to qualify national manpower – a trend that is within the framework of professional procedures clearly showing a significant development of the target ratio, based on a timetable, showing the current employment ratios of each bank, and how they reach this goal in executive positions.

The sources pointed out that the foreign banks encounter difficulty in reaching the targeted percentage of national manpower because of the small volume of their operations and the small number of employees in each bank.

The sources pointed out that the foreign branches are newly established (about 11 years ago) specifically in 2005, and the HSBC according to records is first foreign bank to open a branch in the local market.

The officials of foreign banks branches also believe that with regard to the role of these branches in creating employment opportunities in front of national manpower in the fields of banking and finance, have not been able to achieve the target, because of their work through one branch and their dependence on employees each of whom carry out more than one task to cut down costs.

The sources added that each foreign bank is operating in Kuwait through one branch, unlike local banks, which boast of a wide network of branches serving their customers.


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