Dubai – Mubasher: GFH Financial Group is currently awaiting official listing approvals from regulatory bodies in Saudi Arabia, CEO Hisham Al Rayes has said.

The Bahrain-based financial group recently announced plans to list its stocks on the Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul).

Listing on a global market, however, is not part of GFH Group’s current agenda, the top official told Al Bayan newspaper.

Last week, Al Rayes told Abu Dhabi-based The National that the group was in talks to acquire new education assets in 2018.

GFH Group is currently listed in Dubai, Kuwait, and Bahrain.

GFH’s subsidiary, Khaleeji Commercial Bank is set to list its stocks on the Dubai Financial Market (DFM) starting Tuesday, 19 December.

Last month, Bahrain-listed Khaleeji Commercial Bank said it received approval from the Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB) to list its shares on the DFM after its shareholders recommended the listing earlier in the year.

“The economic development witnessed by the UAE has encouraged the Bank’s management to choose the DFM as a starting point to trade shares outside the Kingdom of Bahrain, which represents another step towards linking the financial markets of Bahrain and the UAE,” Khaleeji Commercial Bank chairman Ahmed Al Mutawa had said.