Mumtalakat, ARP Group to launch AI-native bank in Bahrain

Bahrain Mumtalakat Holding Company, the kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund, has partnered with ARP Group to build an AI-native, blockchain-enabled wholesale bank headquartered in Bahrain. The venture has secured in-principle approval from the Central Bank of Bahrain and will begin regulated operations only once it receives final authorization.

ARP Group — the holding company behind ARP Global Capital and ARP Digital, the latter co-founded by Yusuf Alireza with Abdulla and Abdulaziz Kanoo — brings institutional-finance and digital-infrastructure experience, while Mumtalakat contributes its long-term investment approach. The bank is aimed at regulated financial institutions, payment companies, and businesses operating across borders, with the goal of simplifying banking for clients juggling multiple markets and currencies. It is designed to run AI across its operations and offer programmable, API-connected services alongside human oversight and risk controls, with products rolling out in phases based on prospective clients’ needs.

Yusuf Alireza, ARP Group’s chairman, said institutional clients with complex cross-border needs face fragmented banking services today, and argued that combining a regulated bank’s balance sheet with blockchain technology and AI built into the operating model from the outset would serve those clients more efficiently. Shaikh Abdulla bin Khalifa Al Khalifa, Mumtalakat’s chief executive, said the deal reinforces Bahrain’s position as a regional financial hub by pairing an experienced institutional team with the kingdom’s regulatory environment.

Why it matters

If it clears final licensing, the bank would give Bahrain one of the Gulf’s few purpose-built AI-native wholesale banks, aimed squarely at institutional clients with cross-border needs — a bet that programmable, API-first banking infrastructure can out-compete fragmented incumbent services.