KFH-Turkey’s release of its net profit figures for the first 9 months of 2012 has coincided with the credit rating upgrade decision by Fitch, an international credit rating agency. Continuing its growth through innovative retail and corporate banking products and services during the first 9-month period of 2012 and increasing its net profit to 196.4 million Turkish lira, The bank has also received a thumbs-up from Fitch, in confirmation of the bank's growth. Fitch has upgraded KFH-Turkey’s long-term local currency credit rating from BBB to BBB+ and long-term foreign currency credit rating from BBB- to BBB . With the release of the latest credit upgrades, KFH-Turkey’s credit rating has continued to outperform Turkey's sovereign rating.
Having increased the size of its total assets to 17.68 billion Turkish lira by the end of the first 9-month period of 2012, the bank’s equity capital rose to 1.61 billion Turkish lira by the end of the same period. In the same period, the amount of funds raised by the bank has reached 11.89 billion Turkish lira.
KFH-Turkey’s Chairman Mohammed Al-Omar stated that such a positive rating reflects the bank’s robust financial status, and that in addition to high financial coverage and good ratings, the bank has made several accomplishments in its fields of business. He added that such accomplishments include issuing Sukuk worth USD 350 million last year, which was the first issuance of its kind according to the law that governs the issuance of Sukuk by Turkish authorities. The Turkish parliament adopted a legislation that organizes the issuance of Sukuk, allowing it to support Turkish companies and finance their expansions in Turkey and overseas; especially that many Turkish investors seek Islamic investment instruments. He went on to say that the bank offered the gold investment fund, which is the first of its kind to be enlisted in the Turkish bourse. He noted that this product is highly demanded, since Turkish people are fond of owning gold, which prompted the bank to offer the first ATM machine in Turkey to offer clients the withdrawal of gold coins.
Moreover, he stressed that the bank will continue to expand in the Turkish market, in addition to regional and global markets.
It is worth noting that the Turkish market is one of the most important markets and has strong growth rates, not to mention that the Turkish government exerts sterling efforts to boost the economy. He revealed that KFH-Turkey submitted a request to the German authorities last month to obtain a license to offer various banking and financing services in Germany, which highlights the fact that the bank wishes to expand the role of its existing branch in Manheim that began operating in 2009.
KFH-Turkey has also managed to organize Ijarah Sukuk issuance for the Turkish treasury worth USD 1.5 billion over five and a half years, in collaboration with Citigroup and HSBC through Liquidity Management House that is owned by KFH. This was the first issuance of its kind for the Turkish government.