Sukuk insurance policy ready but no applications yet: Taha

The Sukuk insurance policy of the Jeddah-based Islamic Corporation for the Insurance of Export Credit and Investment (ICIEC) is ready to roll out but the corporation to date has received no applications from sovereign issuers, Dr Abdul Rahman Taha, CEO of ICIEC, said. ICIEC has had initial inquiries from Egypt and Senegal regarding the credit enhancement for Ijarah-based sovereign Sukuk issuances. A major drawback of the Sukuk Insurance Policy is that ICIEC can only guarantee up to $125 million of an issuance, because of its lack of capacity. However, it has reached agreement with the insurance majors to provide further capacity for sovereign Sukuk issuances. ICIEC is expecting more business to come from industrialized countries ECAs, and has signed agreements with Atradius, the Dutch ECA, and with Ducroire Delcredere, the Belgium ECA.