Kuwait Finance House-Turkey CEO Ufuk iwan stressed that the Islamic banking industry has reinforced its competitiveness during the economic crisis, and that Islamic banks were less vulnerable to the impact of the crisis that their traditional counterparts, since they deal in real products instead of relying on offering loans. (source)
Iwan, who took part in a conference in Hungary about dialogues between Europe and the Islamic world to bride any gaps, made a demonstration about the Islamic banking industry and its development.
He added that by the end of 2010, Islamic banking assets reached 83 percent of total Islamic assets in general, followed by sukuk 11 percent and Islamic funds 4.6 percent. He noted that Islamic assets grew by 20 percent every year to reach $150 billion by 2010, while they are expected to reach $1.6 trillion by 2012.
Moreover, Iwan stated that KFH-Turkey invests in Europe, the United States, Central Asia, the Middle East, and the GCC, in collaboration with major international institutions, where KFH plans to expand and add new markets on its map. He went on to say that the bank’s total assets have reached $6.7 billion while shareholders’ equity reached $836 million.
Furthermore, Iwan said that Turkey is making great strides in the field of Islamic finance at a time when the bank became a prominent player in the international sukuk market after making several successful issuances. He added that the bank plans to issue new Ijarah sukuk for five years, since it managed to sell sukuk worth $100 million over three years.
It is worth noting that the conference was hosted by Hungarian Prime Minister, and was attended by numerous prominent figures in the European Union.
KFH-Turkey’s Chairman Mohammed Al-Omar had presented KFH’s experience for over 34 years before several EU ambassadors in Kuwait after being invited by the Hungarian Embassy.
