Islamic Financial Services
From The Report: Kuwait 2017
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Kuwait’s Islamic Financial Services industry is one of the fastest-growing segments of the financial sector, home to an increasing number of sharia- compliant banks and insurance companies. The emergence of these industries over recent decades has brought sharia-compliant capital to account for a significant proportion of total capital domiciled in Kuwait – around 45%, according to the World Bank, which is the second-highest rate in the GCC. Kuwait has also emerged as a player with weight in the global Islamic finance market. According to professional services firm EY, it is one of a core group of nine countries that account for 93% of industry assets, estimated to have exceeded $920bn in 2015. The World Bank reported that Kuwait’s share of global Islamic banking assets in 2016 was around 5.9% of the total, making it the fifth-largest sharia-compliant banking industry in the world that year.

This chapter contains an interview with Mazin Al Nahedh, Group CEO, Kuwait Finance House.

Articles from this Chapter

Overview

Into the spotlight: The industry is looking to increase its presence with additional regulation and more robust oversight
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Kuwait’s Islamic financial services (IFS) industry is one of the fastest-growing segments of the financial sector, home to an increasing number of sharia-compliant banks and insurance companies. The emergence of these industries over recent decades has brought sharia-compliant capital to account for a significant proportion of total capital domiciled in Kuwait – around 45%, according to the World Bank, which is the second-highest rate in the GCC. Kuwait has also emerged as a player with…

Interview

High profile: Mazin Al Nahedh, Group CEO, Kuwait Finance House (KFH), on the growing importance of Islamic financial products
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Interview: Mazin Al Nahedh What can Islamic financial institutions do to demonstrate their resilience, even in a period of global financial crisis? MAZIN AL NAHEDH: There is strong relationship between Islamic banking and financial stability. Islamic banks showed a great deal of resilience during the global financial crisis. They managed to implement prudent financial polices, and as a result they were able to overcome challenges that arose during that difficult time. In this way, Islamic…

Analysis

Managing change: New regulations aim to ensure good governance of sharia boards
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In late 2016 the Central Bank of Kuwait (CBK) made a significant change to the Islamic financial services (IFS) sector. Like most regulators in the region, the CBK has traditionally taken a universal stance on its conventional and sharia-compliant financial institutions, regulating both segments simultaneously and only making exceptions where required by the provisions of sharia. Until now, the CBK had allowed the proprietary sharia boards of individual banks to assume much of the regulatory…