Established in 1980 as an offshore Banking unit listed on the Bahrain Stock ExchangeBahrain Stock Exchange, the Arab Banking Corporation (ABC) offers a wide range of banking products including trade finance and forfaiting, project and structured finance, syndications, corporate and institutional banking, treasury services, investment banking, Islamic banking and retail banking in the Arab world. ABC was purchased in 1981 by Kuwait's Ministry of Finance, the Libyan Secretariat of Treasury and the Abu Dhabi Investment AuthorityAbu Dhabi Investment Authority.

ABC won the Gulf Investment Forum award for "Best regional financial institution" in 2002, the award for the "Best Corporate Bank in Bahrain" from Banker Middle East in 2004, and Bahrain's e-content award given by Bahrain's ministry of industry and commerce in 2005.

Following its plans to expand throughout the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, ABC established a subsidiaryin Iraq in late 2005 and was already providing trade finance services to several Iraqi government agencies and multinationals. Furthermore, as negotiations progress with the Libyan Central bank in regards to its outstanding operating license application there, ABC opened similar discussions with the Central bank of Syria in 2006. Moreover a representative office was inaugurated in Lebanon in 2006.