Kuwait lenders Boubyan Bank and Gulf Bank—the emirate’s third- and fifth-largest banks—have disclosed they are in preliminary talks that may lead to a merger. If the merger goes ahead, it will create an Islamic bank with assets of around $53 billion and about a 15% market share measured by consolidated assets, Fitch Ratings said in a note last month. The deal is unlikely to close before 2025. The proposed union, however, faces challenges. Chief among those is political gridlock, impeding

Tag-uri: Islam