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Last Saturday saw a large number of employees from Bahrain’s main Banks take to the streets in protest over the number of job losses the sector has seen in the last year. The protest was held in Manama and is reported to have gone on for more than two hours and was based in front of the Bahrain Financial Harbour.

Those present say that at least four Banks in Bahrain have made people redundant in the past few weeks. A representative from the group said that there are appear to be no accurate figures circulating about the actual state of employment in the regions banking sector but figures they had managed to obtain from the Central Bank of Bahrain indicate that last year there were 636 lob losses within the Banking Sector.

Among the Banks who had to let staff go are Investcorp Bank, Addax investment Bank, Gulf International Bank and the Bahrain Middle East Bank. Members of the Bahrain Banker’s Union spoke of their anxiety and fear over the current trend and one member said that they thought that after the first six months of 2009 they thought the worst of the banking layoffs were over but they know now this was not the case. By the end of 2009 there were rumors that more staff would be laid off and at present Banks are still downsizing but are trying to do so in a very quite fashion. The day ended very sadly when the trade unions leader who had just undergone heart surgery passed away.