As part of “Diraya” campaign, Kuwait Finance House (KFH) continues to improve the financial literacy of various customer segments and highlight the benefits of the banking services and products it provides.

Through the "Diraya" campaign launched by the Central Bank of Kuwait in collaboration with the Kuwait Banking Association to spread banking awareness, KFH is keen to educate customers about personal finance operations.

KFH explained that personal finance is provided by banks to individuals to meet their personal needs, adding that this financing is divided into two types: consumer finance and housing finance.

Consumer finance is a medium-term personal finance of maximum KD 25,000 over a period not exceeding five years, for financing goods and services such as buying cars, furniture, or educational or health services, while housing Finance is a long-term personal finance maximum KD 70,000 over a period not exceeding fifteen years for purchase, building or renovation of private housing.

KFH added that in order to regulate the provision of personal financings in a way that enables the customer to benefit from such facilities without being exposed to default risk, and to avoid burdening the customer with financial obligations, the Central Bank of Kuwait has enacted a set of controls that banks must adhere to when providing finance, whether for employees or retirees, taking into account the financial conditions of each of these two categories. Such controls require banks to offer financial advice, provide all the information about the financing contract, and clarify the details of the financing process, e.g.  rate of return/discount rate to the finance amount, number of installments, details of each installment and other information before signing the contract with the customer. In addition, the bank should give the customer a period of two days to review the contract and read the terms and conditions carefully, so that the customer can be aware of his/her rights and obligations under the contract before signing it.

The campaign “Diraya” aims to enhance and support the goals of the Central Bank of Kuwait and its social program which aims to spread banking knowledge among society members, increase public awareness on the most important financial issues and on the way to protect assets from fraudulence. Also, it aims to highlight the banking sector role in general, and the banking products provided by the private sector, by introducing a set of instructions and information on regular basis through social media in cooperation with Kuwait banking association and local banks. The campaign shall continue till the end of this year.

It is worth noting that KFH works always on organizing training courses for its employees to increase their experience level, and encourage them to transfer these information in a simplified manner to customers through direct contact in the service centers, social media channels and various electronic channels of the bank.