IslamicFinance.de

The Private Financial Services Department Manager at Kuwait Finance House (KFH) Talal Al-Nesf announced that KFH's local real estate portfolio 2 achieved high returns that resulted in the distribution of 6% annual profit.
He added that the portfolio that has a capital of KD60m began operating in July and distributes quarterly profits, such as groups of investment and commercial real estate in Kuwait; noting that such results reveal the success of KFH's policy to focus on quality assets that yield high returns. He stated that each investment project is carefully studied to achieve high returns with minimal risks.
Moreover, he revealed in a press statement that KFH is in the final stages of the process of selling real estate of KFH's real estate fund in Turkey with over 12% of capital profit.

Standard & Poor's Ratings Services said today it lowered its counterparty credit and insurer financial strength ratings on Kuwait-based First Takaful Insurance Co. to 'BB+' from 'BBB-'.
At the same time, the ratings were removed from CreditWatch, where they were initially placed with negative implications on May 12, 2010. The outlook is stable.
Although takaful insurance appears to represent a promising niche in the Kuwaiti market, competition seems to have become extremely fierce, especially owing to the large number of takaful participants in recent years.
The risks of this scenario are intensified by what we see as reduced insurance opportunities.
Renewed pressure on the ratings may occur if the company's performance appears insufficient to maintain earnings and capitalization at levels supportive of the current ratings. Conversely, we could see positive ratings momentum if the company is able to manage a return to a more robust financial and business profile over the next 12 months.

OPEC'S BADRI: OIL DEMAND TO HIT 106M B/D IN 2030
Global demand for oil is expected to grow to 106 million barrels a day by 2030 compared with the current 86 million barrels a day, said Abdalla El Badri, secretary general of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries.
KUWAIT ALLOCATES KWD8B TO PROVIDE 82,000 HOUSING UNITS
The Kuwaiti government has allocated 8 billion Kuwaiti dinars ($28.2 billion) in its development plan to provide about 82,000 housing units, said Sheikh Ahmad Fahad Al Sabah, deputy prime minister for economic affairs and minister of state for development affairs and for housing affairs.
KUWAIT NOOR'S NASSER AL MARRI RESIGNS AS MANAGING DIRECTOR
Kuwait's Noor Financial Investment's Nasser Al Marri said he has stepped down from his executive position as the company's managing director.

Shareholders of Kuwait’s International Investment Group (IIG) voted on Wednesday to cut the troubled company’s capital by more than half to cover its losses.

The International Real Estate Department Manager at Kuwait Finance House (KFH) Ali Al-Ghannam said that investing in the field of international real estate is one of the KFH’s fruitful fields of business, since many global markets were affected by the global economic crisis in various fields, such as credit, but the value of their real estate were not affected in general and continued to achieve rewarding revenues to their owners.
Al-Ghannam, who made the previous statements during his participation in the annual meeting of the Association of Foreign Investors in Real Estate (AFIRE) in Chicago, stated that KFH’s continuously growing international real estate portfolio manages assets worth $1.5 billion.

In November 2007 Islamic finance, which until then had been soaring on the back of a bullish economy and a climate of more liberal interpretation, hit its first weak point.
Sheikh?Muhammad?Taqi Usmani, head of the religious board at the Accounting and Auditing Organisation for ­Islamic Financial Institutions - the body that sets standards for Islamic finance products - declared that around 85 per cent of the sukuk in issuance broke key principles of Islam and were not sharia-­compliant.
But it is coming back. Islamic finance as a whole, of course, never really went away. Its ups and downs merely mirrored those of conventional finance, with some exceptions - shortly after Lehman Brothers went bust investors fled conventional funds for the perceived haven of sharia-compliant structures and all things Middle Eastern. Large restructurings, such as that of Dubai World subsidiary Nakheel (see box) and Kuwait Investment Dar, characterised the market and new-money deals were few and far between.

The report pointed out that Kuwait ranked first among the GCC countries in terms Islamic banks assets to total banking assets, while Saudi Arabia and the UAE have risen among the countries that promote Islamic finance products and services. It added that there are many opportunities still available for Islamic finance solutions in the region where real estate finance tops other areas of interest prevalent in the UAE and Saudi Arabia.
The existence of financial centers in Bahrain, Qatar and the UAE, as well as a number of Islamic finance organizations such as the Accounting and Auditing Organization for Islamic Financial Institutions, Liquidity Management Centre, and the International Islamic Financial Market will continue to attract new players to the region and further propel the Islamic banking industry to greater heights.

Arab donors—predominantly the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), Kuwait and United Arab Emirates (UAE)—have been among the most generous in the world, with official development assistance (ODA) averaging 1.5 percent of their combined gross national income (GNI) during the period 1973–2008, more than twice the United Nations target of 0.7 percent and five times the average of the OECD-DAC countries. Arab ODA accounts for 13 percent of total DAC ODA on average and nearly three-quarters of non-DAC ODA.

The share of Arab ODA in Arab GNI was exceptionally high in the 1970s and early 1980s, peaking at over 12 percent for the UAE and at about 8.5 percent for Kuwait and KSA in 1973. Nearly one-third of all ODA during the 1970s was from Arab donors. Although the ratio has fallen over time, it still exceeds the average among OECD-DAC member countries.

Moreover, Arab aid is generally untied, and is offered without conditions or restrictions.

Sheikh Salem Abdul Aziz Al Sabah told Arabic language daily Al Seyassah that there were five Kuwaiti Islamic lenders registered with the central bank and five conventional banks. Saudi Arabia's Al-Rajhi Bank, one of the biggest Islamic lenders in the Gulf, also operates in Kuwait. Independent analyst Ali al-Nimesh said while the current view of saturation may be accurate, demand could pick up in coming years.

KFH's IDRs (Issuer Default Rating) and Support rating reflect Fitch's view that there is an extremely high probability that the bank would receive support from the Kuwaiti authorities, if required. This view is based on the State's strong history of supporting local banks, KFH's government-related shareholders and its systemic importance. Downside risk to the IDRs is limited, as the Long-term IDR is at the Support Rating Floor. Any change in the IDRs would reflect a change in Fitch's view of Kuwait's ability and willingness to support KFH, which is considered unlikely. The Individual rating reflects KFH's dominant franchise, strong customer funding base and adequate capitalisation, as well as its weak performance and asset quality indicators, high sector concentrations and the difficult operating environment in Kuwait.

Standard & Poor's Ratings Services said today that its 'BBB-' counterparty credit and insurer financial strength ratings on Kuwait-based First Takaful Insurance Co. ( First Takaful) remain on CreditWatch with negative implications, where they were placed on May 12, 2010.