As part of the annual Islamic Finance News (IFN) best financial deals awards, Kuwait International Bank (KIB) won the ‘IFN Social Impact Deal Of the Year 2020’ award for its participation as Co-Manager for the successful issuance of ‘Sustainability Sukuk’ by the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB). Valued at USD 1.5 billion for a period of five years, the Sukuk aimed at mitigating COVID-19 repercussions for IsDB member states.
KIB was selected as an award recipient by the IFN judging panel, which comprises a group of experts from non-competing organizations based on several key criteria, including deal impact, significance and complexity as well as time to market, challenges overcome, deal uniqueness and issuer profile among others. Upon which, the panel unanimously agreed that 2020 was the year of significant steps in the social impact arena, including the issuance of ‘Sustainability Sukuk’ by IsDB to sustain the financial system across its 57-member states, in which KIB participated as a Co-Manager. KIB’s participation in this issuance helped enhance its investment capabilities and strengthened its position in regional debt capital markets, in addition to shaping the future of Islamic capital markets in Kuwait. The ‘Sustainability Sukuk’ was successfully issued under the umbrella of IsDB's Trust Certificate Issuance program, which is in turn valued at USD 25 billion and priced at par with a profit rate of 0.908% to be payable on a semi-annual basis.
On this occasion, Jamal Al Barrak, General Manager of the Investment Department at the Bank, expressed joy and pride on behalf of all employees and senior management at KIB over this achievement, as it underscores the significant impact of these vital investments as well as the Bank’s role in impacting the society, adding: “Beyond its participation in various financial deals, KIB has proven to be a key player in the regional debt capital market with an eye towards enhancing its investment capabilities and achieving sustainable development while positively influencing the lives of individuals on all fronts, hence our participation as a Co-Manager in the ‘Sustainability Sukuk’ issuance by IsDB to counter the aftermath of COVID-19 and support social impact projects under its Sustainable Finance Framework, with a focus on ‘access to essential services’ and ‘SME financing and employment generation’. The truth is, such sustainable and inclusive business practices epitomize the core of KIB’s leading social responsibility program – they uphold KIB’s commitment to youth empowerment and employment generation, especially in light of these difficult times.”
Al Barrak further noted that KIB's participation in the issuance of ‘Sustainability Sukuk’ by IsDB is yet another breakthrough, stressing it is one of the many initiatives undertaken by several parties as an aggressive response to fund and support member countries’ fight against COVID-19, in addition to achieving sustainable development and funding social impact projects in many countries of the world, he added: “This initiative contributed greatly towards fortifying KIB’s position in the international investment market and strengthened our ties with IsDB, which in turn has obtained excellent credit ratings from international agencies. Moreover, this is the IsDB’s second Sukuk under its Sustainable Finance Framework, in quick succession to the Green Sukuk with the aim of integrating climate considerations into the IsDB’s financial offerings, which in reality demonstrates the increasing necessity for sustainable financing across our communities and subsequently KIB’s drive to participate in such deals."
It serves to note that Islamic Finance news (IFN) is a subsidiary of REDmoney Group, which was established in 2004 to provide media services in global markets including emerging Islamic economies, the Middle East and developed regions of Europe and the Americas. IFN honors the best in the Islamic financial industry and publishes the most important news of Islamic banking in the world. With a world-wide readership, IFN provides exclusive and comprehensive coverage of the global Islamic financial markets and leverages an unrivalled network of connections to provide unmatched insight into global Sharia compliant markets.
© Press Release 2021
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