Bahrain's Central Bank, based in Manama, has published rules which, it hopes, will facilitate the provision of a variety of innovative services for bank customers in that Gulf kingdom.

The open banking initiative is expected to improve the quality of services that banks offered to consumers and, according to banking supervision director Khalid Hamad, will give the Bahraini financial sector a competitive edge in the Middle East.

Open banking services entail the provision of two broad categories of services. The first is an account information service which provides customers with access to all bank account information in an aggregated manner through a single platform. The second category is a payment initiation service which allows licensed third parties to initiate payments on behalf of customers while allowing seamless transfers between those customers' different accounts through a mobile-based application.

The bank refers to its rules as 'final,' although it does not explain whether this is in the American sense of draft rules being superseded by actual rules.