Kuwait Finance House
Kuwait Finance House helped start quite a trend when it opened its doors in 1977 as only the second Islamic bank in the world. There has been no looking back since for the Kuwaiti firm.
Nowhere has KFH been more aggressive than expanding its business at home. Outside Islamic banking, it has become one of the biggest financiers in both the local and regional markets. Today, it boasts a network of 522 branches and 1,535 ATMs spanning the Gulf Cooperation Council, Turkey, Asia and Europe.
KFH wins our award for best domestic bank in Kuwait for the way it navigated the global chaos of 2020. Net profit for shareholders, for example, rose 12.9%, year on year, while earnings per share increased 12.6%. What really impresses, though, is the bank’s ambition to spread its wings.
KFH has a formal presence in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Malaysia and Germany. As Covid-19 travel bans ease, KFH – which is currently led by acting group CEO Abdulwahab Al-Rushood – plans to expand its global presence to diversify investment opportunities and find new growth strategies.