Kuwait Finance House (KFH) has recently participated in the 5th IILM Shariah Roundtable titled: "Towards an Effective Shariah-Compliant Repo Market: Challenges and Alternatives".

The roundtable aims to facilitate a discussion addressing Shariah issues surrounding the Islamic repo market and provide a forum to industry practitioners, lawyers, and Shariah scholars from various organizations, to exchange and share their experience with repo transactions through panel discussions.

During the first session titled: “Setting the Scene: The Need for Shariah -Compliant Repo Market”, Mohammad Al Duwailah, Deputy General Manager Treasury at KFH, addressed the need for a cross border Shariah compliant repo market and the experience and role of international organizations.

He highlighted KFH experience and its role in developing capital markets through Shariah compliant financial products provided by the bank.

Al Duwailah provided an overview of the importance of the repo instrument during market stress such as the Covid-19 pandemic, emphasizing the importance of having a cross border Shariah compliant repo Market that is both robust and reliable in order to provide liquidity for the global Islamic finance market.

KFH`s participation in such meetings is part of its strategy  to serve the Islamic financial industry and contribute to the development and structuring of innovative Islamic financial services and products as well as highlight KFH`s pioneering role as a market maker and its leadership in achieving the highest professional standards and efficient performance to contribute to the development of Islamic capital market.

Meanwhile, KFH maintained its first position as a “Top Primary Dealer” for the IILM Sukuk Program in FY 2019 on top of 11 IILM Primary Dealers of regional and global banks and financial institutions. The IILM ranking is based on certified and professional criteria.

Having a track record of achievements in Sukuk market and innovative Islamic financial products, KFH`s pioneering position in the IILM primary dealers list for the fifth year in a row confirms its leading role as a market maker and reflects its leadership position in achieving the highest standards of efficiency and professionalism in developing the Sukuk market.

It is worth noting that the IILM is an international organization established by central banks including the Central Bank of Kuwait (CBK), monetary authorities and multinational organizations to create and issue Shariah-compliant financial instruments to facilitate effective cross-border Islamic liquidity management.