Manama · Kingdom of Bahrain

We get you licensed in Bahrain. Simply, efficiently, and without the hassle.

26 North 50 East helps international brokers establish regulated operations in Bahrain — from regulatory strategy and application readiness through operating model implementation and market launch. One firm, end to end. Senior practitioners, direct regulator experience, complete discretion.

What we know

We speak broker — and we speak regulator

Licensing a brokerage is not a paperwork exercise. It is convincing a serious regulator that a real, well-run business is arriving. That takes advisers who understand both sides of the conversation.

How brokers operate

Dealing models, liquidity arrangements, margin and leverage mechanics, client classification — we build the regulatory story around the business you actually run, not a generic template.

Business model & regulatory strategy

The infrastructure you need

Trading platforms, liquidity bridges, payment providers, client-money safeguarding, reporting systems — we specify the operating model the CBB expects to see, and help you stand it up.

Operating model implementation

How regulated distribution works

Onboarding, appropriateness, marketing rules, introducing-broker networks — we design client acquisition that grows the book without putting the licence at risk.

Regulated distribution & conduct

How to be credible to the CBB

The CBB licenses management teams, not documents. We prepare your people, your numbers and your plan so the regulator sees a firm it wants in its market — from the first meeting.

Regulator positioning & liaison

Services

Three ways in — one firm, end to end

Start with a readiness assessment, commit to the full programme, or bring us in to run what you have already started. Every engagement is fixed-fee and led by the same senior team throughout.

01

Readiness assessment

A fixed-fee diagnostic before you commit to anything.

  • Licence category, capital and structure for your model
  • Gap analysis: people, systems, policies, financials
  • Realistic timeline and full cost picture
  • A written roadmap you can take to your board

Two to three weeks

02

Full licensing programme

The complete path from strategy to a licence in hand.

  • Business plan, financial model and Form 1 application
  • CBB liaison, queries and interview preparation
  • Incorporation, approved persons, compliance & AML frameworks
  • Operating model build: platforms, banking, safeguarding

Through to approval

03

Launch & retained support

We take you to market and stay for the years that matter.

  • Market launch: distribution, conduct and onboarding done right
  • Outsourced compliance officer and MLRO support
  • CBB returns, annual AML audits, rulebook monitoring
  • Inspection readiness and regulator correspondence

Three-year retained mandate

Fee model

Fixed where it can be, transparent where it can't

Licensing engagements fail on scope drift. Ours are priced by phase, agreed before work begins, with milestones tied to regulator outcomes — not hours billed.

Engagement Structure What triggers payment
Readiness assessment Single fixed fee On delivery of the readiness report and roadmap — credited against the full programme if you proceed
Full licensing programme Fixed fee, staged across milestones Engagement start · application formally accepted by the CBB · in-principle approval granted
Launch & retained support Monthly retainer, three-year term Monthly, with the rate fixed for the full term at signing

CBB application and annual licence fees are payable directly to the regulator and are always quoted separately, so you see our fee and the official cost side by side. Committing to the three-year retained mandate at signing reduces the licensing-programme fixed fee.

Compliance & specialisation

Deep in compliance. Narrow by design.

We do one thing: regulated market entry to Bahrain for brokers. That narrowness is the point — we have walked this exact route before, we know what the CBB asks and in what order, and nothing about your application will be our first time.

And compliance is not our afterthought — it is our core discipline. Engagements are led by practitioners who have held controlled functions in CBB-licensed institutions, so the frameworks we build are designed to pass supervision in year three, not just approval in month six. We remain a deliberately quiet firm: no published client names, principals introduced under NDA at the first consultation.

MLRO-qualified leadership

Engagements led by a practitioner qualified as a Money Laundering Reporting Officer under CBB approved-persons requirements.

Working regulator relationships

Day-to-day familiarity with CBB supervisory teams, processes and expectations across licensing directorates.

Post-licence continuity

The team that writes your application is the team that files your returns in year three — nothing is handed off.

Enquire

Begin with a confidential conversation

Tell us the activity you intend to license and where you are in your planning. We respond within two business days with an initial view on category, capital and timeline — no obligation, no disclosure.

All enquiries are held in strict confidence. We are happy to execute a mutual NDA before any substantive discussion.

Prefer email? Write to [email protected]