More Islamic finance firms in Kuwait than conventional ones

Fresh News: There are more Islamic finance-compliant investment companies in Kuwait than conventional institutions, new figures have revealed.

Analysis of data released by the Central Bank of Kuwait showed that there are 48 Sharia-compliant finance companies and 45 conventional companies in that Gulf city-state, the official Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) reported.

However, the volume of assets managed by Islamic companies still remained less than that run by conventional companies.

Total assets held by conventional companies came to 10.6 billion Kuwaiti dinar ($39.8 billion) at the end of July 2008 compared to 7.9 billion Kuwaiti dinar ($29.7 billion) held by Sharia-compliant ones.

Nevertheless, the report said, there is a noticeable growth in assets of Islamic investment companies since January this year by 18.7 percent compared to the 14 percent growth rate registered by conventional companies during the same period.

Assets of conventional companies were divided into credit facilities to residents at KD1 billion ($3.75 billion), domestic investments at KD3.1 billion ($11.6 billion), as well as KD145 million ($544.7 million) in non-financial investments.

Foreign assets came to KD4.6 billion ($17.3 billion), cash at KD8.7 million ($32.7 million), and other assets accounted for KD1.2 billion ($4.5 billion).

Of the assets of Sharia-compliant investment companies, financial investment accounted for KD 2.8 billion, foreign assets at KD1.9 billion ($7.1 billion), while client financing operations accounted for KD947 million ($3.5 billion).