Al-Ahmadi Governorate Sheikh Ibrahim Al-Sabah praised Kuwait Finance House (KFH) for its significant role in the national economy, in addition to its contributions in various aspects of life, which makes it a successful model for the private sector.
He added during the opening of KFH’s branch in Al-Sabahiya that KFH is a source of pride in Kuwait and overseas. He went on to say that KFH managed to recruit and train qualified employees who excelled in the field of Islamic banking.

Policy
Moreover, KFH’s CEO Mohammed Al-Omar stated that the expansion policy and the opening of new branches, in addition to the growth in market share and client base, proves the success of its financial and legislative policy, which makes KFH highly appreciated in Kuwait and overseas.
He asserted that such success is a result of continuous efforts for more than three decades, where KFH offered its clients and shareholders billion of dinars in the form of profits and distributions that were highly appreciated by them.
Furthermore, Al-Omar said that KFH is shows interest in the local market and continuously works to increase its market share through innovating competitive services and products, which makes it one of the most prestigious banks in the world, especially that KFH innovated 10 products and services from the beginning of this year.
In addition, KFH’s banks in Malaysia, Turkey and Bahrain continue their expansion plans in those countries and neighboring markets, not to mention linking those markets to Kuwait and the GCC.

Optimistic
Al-Omar renewed his optimistic vision of regarding the ability of the Kuwaiti economy to recover from the negative impact of the financial crisis, under the efficient leadership of the Central Bank of Kuwait, in addition to the decisions taken by the government and the parliament, which led to encouraging laws.
However, he noted that more decisions need to be taken to boost the economy and cement the role of the private sector, such as the sukuk draft law, since this law can assist in overcoming the problem of financing that the companies are facing, especially that they do not burden the budgets of the companies like other financing tools do, not to mention te fact that they are easy to liquidize.
Established in 1977, Kuwait Finance House (KFH) is the country’s oldest and biggest Islamic lender.
However, Fitch Ratings this month downgraded the bank’s Individual Rating to ‘C/D’ from ‘C’ and placed it on Rating Watch Negative (RWN).
The ratings agency affirmed its Long-term Issuer Default Rating (IDR) at ‘A+’ and its Short-term IDR at ‘F1’.
The downgrade in KFH’s Individual Rating reflects Fitch’s concerns that the bank is highly exposed to Kuwait’s distressed investment companies, which contributed in part to the bank’s significantly higher loan impairment provisions and impaired loans for 2008.
‘While the Kuwaiti sovereign support package to stabilise financial markets, approved last week, is a positive development, it is too early to judge its impact on KFH’s credit fundamentals,’ said Mahin Dissanayake, Associate Director in Fitch’s Financial Institutions team.
Since the 1980s, KFH has established independent banks in Turkey, Bahrain, and Malaysia. It has also taken stakes in other Islamic banks.
KFH posted a loss of $219m in the fourth quarter as it made $723.3m in provisions to weather the global financial crisis.