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Kuwait Finance House

Banking & Finance

Kuwait Finance House Overview

Kuwait Finance House (KFH) was established in 1977 as Kuwait’s first Islamic bank and then listed on the Kuwait Stock Exchange in 1984.

KFH provides a wide range of sharia-compliant banking products and services, covering real estate, trade finance, investment portfolios, commercial, retail and corporate banking.

Its services are available across the GCC and Middle East, as well as Germany and the UK.

The bank set up KFH Capital Investment Company in 1999 under the name Almuthana Investment Company to invest in the public and private equity and real estate markets across the globe. It became KFH Capital Investment Company in 2014 and has offices in Safat, Kuwait, and Oman.

KFH opened its first branch in Bahrain in 2002 and in 2005 KFH Malaysia was established. It was the first Islamic bank to be granted a licence there under the 1983 Islamic Banking Act.

Since then, KFH and its Turkish subsidiary Kuveyt Turk have established a presence in Saudi Arabia, Jordan, the UAE and Germany.

In July 2022 KFH completed a merger with Bahrain’s Ahli United Bank for about $11.6 billion.

Kuwait Finance House News

Bahrain Bourse hopes traders will be encouraged by discounts on commissions

Bahrain bourse launches incentive scheme to revive trading

Bahrain Bourse will introduce various incentives next month to try to boost trading on a market that accounts for less than one-thousandth of daily turnover on Gulf stock exchanges. The scheme, which begins on February 2, aims to improve trading activity and increase the number of institutions investing in Bahraini stocks. Its launch comes amid […]

KFH's off-market sale of its stake in Sharjah Islamic Bank was executed at AED2.20 per share for 588 million shares

Kuwaiti lender sells stake in Sharjah Islamic Bank for $351m

Kuwait Finance House (KFH), the nation’s largest lender, has sold its entire stake in Abu Dhabi-listed Sharjah Islamic Bank for AED1.3 billion ($351 million). The off-market sale, also known as a negotiated deal, was executed at AED2.20 per share for 588 million shares, the lender said in a filing on Borsa Kuwait. Off-market trades are based […]

Core countries account for the majority of Islamic finance – the GCC accounted for 86 percent of growth in 2023

Growth doubts over Islamic finance despite trillions in assets

Islamic finance assets grew to about $3.3 trillion worldwide last year, but credit ratings agency S&P has warned that a planned industry standard could drive down sukuk issuance in 2025 and beyond.  S&P is predicting high single-digit growth in total assets in 2024-25 after an increase of 8 percent last year.  The agency expects the […]

Architecture, Building, Office Building

Al Salam Bank to acquire KFH’s Bahraini unit

Al Salam Bank, a sharia-compliant lender in Bahrain, has signed definitive agreements to acquire the entire stake in Kuwait Finance House’s (KFH) subsidiary in the kingdom. The transaction is subject to regulatory approvals, the bank said in a statement to the Bahrain Bourse. No details were given on the deal. In November 2023, Al Salam […]

GCC banks can save more than $3bn per year by merging branches and accelerating digitalisation

Mergers drive growth in Bahrain’s Islamic finance sector

When Al Salam Bank, one of the largest Islamic banks in Bahrain, became majority shareholder of its Algerian subsidiary last June, CEO Rafik Nayed made clear that the shopping spree was not over. Mergers and acquisitions “will remain an important pillar of our growth plans”, Nayed said – and last month Al Salam announced a […]

Dubai's Mashreq is among the GCC banks looking for growth in the US and Europe

GCC banks look to US and Europe

GCC banks may be forced to look overseas to fulfil growth ambitions as home markets become increasingly saturated, experts say. While some banks have already ventured abroad – mainly into Turkey, Egypt and Pakistan, which constitute nearly a half of their presence outside the Gulf – more developed markets such as the US and Europe […]

National Bank of Kuwait mortgage reform

Kuwait banks boosted by likely mortgage law reform

Kuwait bank stocks are hitting highs as traders bet that a long-awaited liberation of  the country’s mortgage laws will come into force and provide a windfall for lenders. Currently only the government-controlled Kuwait Credit Bank (KCB) provides financing to Kuwaiti citizens and companies for them to buy real estate, and commercial banks are not permitted […]