IslamicFinance.de

Kuwait Turkey Bank (Kuveyt Turk) opened a branch in the German city of Frankfurt on Tuesday to be the first Islamic financial institution in the Eurozone. Hamad Al-Marzouq, Board Chairman of Kuwait Finance House (KFH), which owns the largest share in Kuveyt Turk, said he was proud to see the first Islamic bank operational in the eurozone. Kuveyt Turk seeks to encourage five million Muslims as well as non-Muslim clients in Germany to use the bank's services, he said. Kuveyt Turk was active in the German market since 2004 but was only capable of practicing partial banking operation in 2010. It was allowed to carry out full banking services in Germany last year.

Kuwait-based International Turnkey Systems (ITS) appears to be for sale, with its parent, Kuwait Finance House (KFH), deciding it is no longer strategic. There have been number of discussions with main rival in the Islamic core banking systems sector, Path Solutions.

Kuwait Finance House may auction some of its properties or offer them to be run by other operators, depending on market conditions, its chief executive Mazin Saad al-Nahedh without giving details. He also said KFH planned to cut tens of jobs as part of its restructuring plan, which would eliminate some positions. Some people would be moved to other subsidiaries. KFH said in early May that it was considering a possible sale of its Malaysian unit. That is the only unit earmarked for possible sale because it is outside the Middle East, Nahedh said. The bank is restructuring activities ahead of a planned divestment by its largest shareholder, the Kuwait Investment Authority. A timetable for the divestment has not been announced.

Kuwait Finance House (KFH) is exploring the possible sale of assets including its Malaysia unit, as the Islamic lender looks for a leaner structure while seeking greener pastures through its Turkey franchise. KFH is restructuring activities ahead of a planned divestment by its largest shareholder, the Kuwait Investment Authority (KIA). The firm has hired Credit Suisse to advise on its options, including the potential sale of a Malaysia unit launched in 2005 that serves as a hub for southeast Asia. KFH did not give further details. A shift away from Malaysia, where KFH holds a valuable licence but lacks scale, would help it focus on Kuveyt Turk, the largest Islamic bank in Turkey with over 500 branches.

Kuwait Finance House (KFH) is restructuring activities ahead of a planned divestment by its largest shareholder, the Kuwait Investment Authority (KIA). Last week, KFH said it had hired Credit Suisse to advise on its options, including the potential sale of a Malaysia unit launched in 2005 that serves as a hub for southeast Asia. KFH did not give further details. A shift away from Malaysia, where KFH holds a valuable licence but lacks scale, would help it focus on Kuveyt Turk, the largest Islamic bank in Turkey with over 500 branches. Kuveyt Turk, 62 per cent owned by KFH, is in expansion mode: It plans to launch Germany's first full-fledged Islamic bank in July as a gateway to Europe.

Kuwait Finance House (KFH), the Gulf nations' biggest Islamic lender, may sell some of its investments including KFH Malaysia and has picked Credit Suisse to advise it on the matter, KFH said on Wednesday. It did not provide any details such as a timeline or a potential sale price of the unit.

Zakat House Director General Ibrahim Al-Saleh applauded Kuwait Finance House’s support to Zakat House to execute charitable projects that serve the community. Al-Saleh praised, during receiving a cheque with a value of KD 5,878,129 million from KFH’s Chief Executive Officer, Mazin Saad Al-Nahedh, KFH for collaborating with Zakat House which contributes to accomplish the goal of encouraging charity and the spread of meanings of brotherhood among various segments of the society. It’s worth noting that the donated value will be distributed to help the poor families in Kuwait, to support charity committees and societies working in the field of humanitarian aid and to execute pro bono projects as per the rules and regulations of Zakat House.

The Kuwait Finance House (KFH) through its subsidiary 'KFH Investment' has successfully managed to lead a USD 500 million issuance for Sharjah Islamic Bank (SIB) to finance expansion and growth plans. The Sukuk issue is 5 years Wakala/Mudharabah Sukuk deal which has received an over subscription almost 7 times the targeted size. The issue has attracted a USD 3.6 billion order books by 120 various accounts or investors. Geographical distribution shows that 63 percent of orders came from the GCC and the Middle East, 23 percent from Asia and 14 percent from Europe.KFH has acted as a Joint Lead Manager and Bookrunner.

The deal for Kuwait Turkish Participation Bank (KTPB) was arranged and syndicated in record time and twice oversubscribed. 12 regional and global banks participated. This affirmed the KFH Group the Turkish Economy a strong global position.

Between January-November 2014 , the global primary sukuk market recorded total issuances of USD 114.7 billion, compared to USD 105.7 billion in the same period last year. An important supporting factor for sukuk issuances are the major infrastructure needs in the GCC, South Asia, South East Asia and Africa. Islamic financial institutions (IFIs) globally are working towards full-compliance with Basel III; in this regard, recent sukuk issuances by IFIs in the GCC and Malaysia suggest that Basel III-compliant sukuks are a viable mechanism to meet the enhanced capital adequacy and liquidity standards.

atuk Seri Abdul Hamidy Abdul Hafiz, the chief executive officer (CEO) of Kuwait Finance House (M) Bhd (KFH), has tendered his resignation. According to officials, the bank’s board had considered Hamidy’s request to resign. Pending approval by Bank Negara on the appointment of a new CEO, KFH said its board had appointed Datuk Mohamad Aslam Khan Gulam Hassan, who is currently the chief recovery officer, as the acting CEO, effective November 27. KFH also said it had appointed Mohammed Nasser Al Fouzan as chairman of the board of directors, effective November 26.

Turkish participation bank Kuveyt Turk has mandated banks to issue sukuk in Malaysia, aiming to raise as much as 2 billion ringgit ($596.7 million), which will be its first foray into the southeast Asian Islamic debt capital market. Kuveyt Turk, 62 percent owned by Kuwait Finance House , said in a statement it has mandated CIMB Investment Bank Berhad, Kuwait Finance House Berhad and Maybank Investment Bank Berhad. The last time Kuveyt Turk was in the market was in June, when it issued a $500 million five-year sukuk that attracted over $3.25 billion in orders. In July, Turkiye Finans became the first Turkish lender to issue ringgit-denominated sukuk in Malaysia raising 800 million ringgit.

The global primary sukuk market issuances have cumulatively surpassed the milestone of USD100bln in the first ten months of 2014, said a monthly KFH report on Friday. The pipeline in the last two remaining months of 2014 is robust as the likes of the Government of Pakistan, Government of Tunisia, Dubai and corporate institutions in many countries have plans to tap the sukuk sector within the next few weeks. Overall, 2014 has become the third consecutive year when annual primary market issuances have surpassed the monumental USD100bln mark, said the report. The fourth quarter of 2014 (4Q14) has begun with a modest performance as October recorded a monthly issuance volume of USD8.27bln.

Kuwait Finance House (KFH) said its net profit fell 10.2 per cent in the third quarter to September. It fell to 35.5 million Kuwaiti dinars in the third quarter compared to 39.2 million in the same quarter last year. Total assets jumped to 17.1 billion dinars in the third quarter as against 14.7 billion dinars in the same period last year. The company’s financing income, which contributed to 76 per cent of its revenues, jumped the most by 35 per cent to 185 million dinars. However, investment income fell by 66 per cent to 24 million dinars. Total deposits reached 10.9 billion Kuwaiti dinars, up 7.5 per cent compared to December 2013. Chairman Hamad Al-Marzouq said that the achieved results come amid major changes taking place in the bank.

Kuwait Finance House (KFH) has announced that the newly appointed Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Mazin Saad Al-Nahedh will officially commence his duties as of October 1st 2014 after having obtained the required regulatory approvals. Mazin Al-Nahedh has over 21 years of diversified banking experience and is a graduate of Business Administration (Finance) from the University of California USA. Before holding his position at KFH, Al-Nahedh served as Group General Manager - Treasury, General Manager - Corporate Banking Group, and Retail Banking General Manager at the National Bank of Kuwait (NBK). The appointment is in line with KFH's Board of Directors' directives and strategies towards improving business models, while paving the way for a younger generation of Kuwaiti professionals to hold leading positions at KFH.

Kuwait Finance House (KFH) announced that the debut Gold Account it had launched last year, has become available for clients at 7 branches as of today. The branches are; Al-Fiahaa, Al-Shaab, Al-Salmyia, Mubarak Al-Kabeer, Alfahaheel, Alqaser, and the headquarter branch. The expansion of the product aims at facilitating the efforts of clients and expanding the service. The gold biscuits each weigh 100 grams and has a purity value of 999.9, the purest form of gold. Each gold biscuit is issued and certified by KFH and the Ministry of Commerce.

Kuwait Finance House (KFH) has taken the top spot among banks locally and the 161st place globally, among the list of the top 1000 banks worldwide issued by "The Banker" international magazine. It’s worth noting that KFH’s leadership and the diversity of its investments through presence in various areas of investment as well as the global expansion provides the bank with investment opportunities. KFH posted in the first half of this year a gross profit of KD 144.032 million (USD 510.887 mln), and net profit for shareholders was KD 54.568 million (USD 193.555 mln) with an increase of 10% over the same period last year. Total Assets increased by 11 % over the same period last year to reach KD 16.7 billion (USD 59.3 bln), shareholders’ equity reached KD 1.7 bln (USD 6.1 bln).

The global primary market volume has reached USD80.35 billion in eight months ended August 2014 (8M14), 6.8 percent higher than the USD75.23bln volume in 8M13, Kuwait Finance House said in its monthly sukuk report. A strong pipeline waits in the remaining months of 2014 including debut sovereign issuances by the AAA-rated jurisdictions of Luxembourg and Hong Kong. KFH also stated that global primary sukuk market activity remained moderate in the month of August as a total of USD7.54 billion worth of new sukuk were issued. Analyzing by the country of sukuk origination, the report disclosed that the primary market activity was heavily concentrated in Malaysia.

Bahrain's Gulf Finance House (GFH) said on Wednesday that it had signed to obtain a $105 million, five-year Islamic credit facility from Kuwait Finance House, which would help GFH redeem two syndicated debt facilities and allow the release of some major GFH assets. GFH, which suffered heavily in the wake of the global financial crisis and required multiple debt restructurings, said Kuwait Finance House would have an option to convert its outstanding debt into GFH shares. It did not elaborate on the terms of any equity conversion. The Bahraini firm noted that it had paid down some $30 million of current outstanding debt facilities to date in 2014, representing payment of more than 15 percent of its total liabilities.

Capital Intelligence (CI) has announced that it has affirmed the Financial Strength Rating (FSR) of Kuwait Finance House (KFH) of 'BBB+'. The rating is supported by KFH's dominance of the Islamic banking sector in Kuwait, as well as its large overall market share in both deposits and loans, and by the significantly improved equity base following the June 2013 rights issue. The rating is constrained by a less than satisfactory asset quality in terms of headline non-performing facility ratio and reserve coverage, and by poor profitability at the net level. Looking ahead, the growing international component of both revenues and balance sheet is likely to eventually become a supporting factor.