Kuwait Finance House

Kuwait Finance House
Public
Industry Banking
Founded 1977 (1977)
Founders Consortium of Kuwaiti merchants
Headquarters Kuwait City, Kuwait - Group Headquarters
Number of locations
 Presence in Bahrain, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey
Key people
 Hamad Abdulmohsen Al-Marzook, Chairman
Mazen Al Nahedh CEO
Revenue Increase KD 996 million KWD (2013)
Increase KD 116 million KWD (2013)
Number of employees
 8,000+
Website www.kfh.com

Kuwait Finance House (Arabic: بيت التمويل الكويتي‎‎)(KFH) was established in the State of Kuwait, in 1977, as the first bank operating in accordance with the Islamic Shari'a. KFH is listed in Kuwait Stock Exchange (KSE), with a market capitalization of KWD 2.667 billion as of 31 December 2008. Assets total KWD 11.291 billion and deposits amount to KWD 7.262 billion. It has been awarded Best Islamic Bank in the world from CPI Financial institution for the year 2014.[1]

KFH provides Islamic Shari'a compliant products and services, covering banking, real estate, trade finance, investment portfolios, and other products and services.

Since the 1980s, KFH has witnessed multi-activity in international expansion. It has established independent banks in Turkey, Bahrain, and Malaysia. Moreover, it has stakes in other Islamic banks. Its investment activities in the US, Europe, South East Asia and the Middle East contributed to achieving the growing profit of KFH.

KFH has always endeavored to expand its local branch network, covering 52 branches, in addition to special sections for ladies. It adopts the out-of-branch client concept. KFH has maintained its foothold as a pioneering entity in utilizing the latest technologies to meet the requirements of the various activities in which it operates, using online, SMS, as well as phone service (Allo Baitak), which has received the highest accreditation from the US Purdue University for outstanding customer service level.

Subsidiaries

According to the KFH website, until December 2008, KFH ran the following subsidiaries:

Investment In Associates

Ownership Of Kuwait Finance House

Kuwait Finance House Global Awards

Controversial ties

Tadamon Islamic Bank

The Kuwait Finance House was a shareholder in Tadamon International Islamic Bank, a sharia-compliant bank based in Yemen once known as Tadamon Islamic Bank. Al Qaeda’s former leader used Tadamon Bank accounts to send money to his operatives.[2] The FBI found evidence that Tadamon Bank was in fact one of the financial entities established by Bin Laden in the 1990s that allowed him to resource his terrorist enterprises.[3]

Tadamon Bank was a primary shareholder in Al Shamal Islamic Bank, a Sudanese bank to which Bin Laden “contributed at least $50 million.”[2][3]

Among the original investors and top shareholders of Al Shamal Islamic Bank was also Abduh Saleh Kamel, a wealthy Saudi businessman who established the Dallah al Baraka Group (DBG). Kamel’s name appeared on a list seized in 2002 during a ride to the premises of the Benevolence International Foundation in Sarajevo. The list, better known as “Golden Chain,” allegedly included early supporters of Al Qaeda – mostly politicians, bankers, and businessmen from the Gulf – and was admitted in the criminal case United States v. Arnaout in 2003.[4][5]

Tadamon Islamic Bank was a subsidiary of the Islamic Investment Company of the Gulf and its holding – Dar al Mal al Islami (DMI) – is “central to Saudi Arabia’s financing of international Wahhabist Islamist movements.”[2][3]

Bait ul-Mal Inc. (BMI)

In his statement on the subject of terrorist finance before the U.S. Senate in October 2003, Richard Clarke reported that the Kuwait Finance House was allegedly an investor in Bait ul-Mal Incorporated (BMI), an Islamic investment firm based in the U.S. that fundraised for Hamas and its officers.[6]

According to U.S. authorities, BMI was established in 1986 by Soliman Biheiri and Hussein Ibrahim with the ultimate goal of providing the Muslim Brotherhood with “an American-based financial vehicle.”[7][8]

Clarke testified that “BMI's investor list reads like a who's who of designated terrorists and Islamic extremists.”(3) Osama Bin Laden and three Bin Laden brothers (Abdullah, Nur, and Eman) were amongst BMI’s investors, along with U.S.-based Hamas’s senior officer Mousa Abu Marzook.[7][8][9]

Marzook, a Specially Designated Global Terrorist, had invested over a $1 million in BMI and had established a separate company with Biheiri in the early 1990s, Mosan, involved in building developments in Maryland.[7][10] When Marzook was deported in 1995, Biheiri administered his funds, that according to Steven Emerson still remain unaccounted for.[7]

Another prominent, controversial figure who engaged in financial transactions with BMI was Tareq Suwaidan, a top officer of the Muslim Brotherhood in Kuwait.[6]

Muslim Brotherhood

Based on Clarke’s testimony, the Kuwait Finance House has strong ties to the Muslim Brotherhood in Kuwait. More specifically, Clarke declared before the Senate that “the Kuwait Finance House is reported to be the financial arm of the Muslim Brotherhood in Kuwait.”[6]

References

  1. ↑ "CPI Financial: KFH Best Islamic Bank in the World". Zawya. Retrieved 26 December 2014.
  2. 1 2 3 11, Puneet Madaan November; Pm, 2010 at 10:41. "Troubling links of Kuveyt Turk Bank". Money Jihad. Retrieved 2016-03-08.
  3. 1 2 3 Aubrey, Stefan M. (2004). The New Dimension of International Terrorism. Hochschulverlag AG and der ETH, Zurich. p. 223.
  4. ↑ Simpson, Glenn R. "A Sprawling Probe Of Terror Funding Centers in Virginia". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2016-03-08.
  5. ↑ Simpson, Glenn R. "List of Early al Qaeda Donors Points to Saudi Elite, Charities". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2016-03-08.
  6. 1 2 3 Wikisource contributors (17 April 2012). "Statement to the House on Terrorist Financing". Wikisource. Wikisource. Retrieved 13 March 2016.
  7. 1 2 3 4 Emerson, Steven (2006). Jihad Incorporated. A Guide to Militant Islam in the US. New York: Prometheus Books.
  8. 1 2 "N.J. firm backed terrorists linked to Hamas, al Qaeda". The Washington Times. 28 March 2004. Retrieved 13 March 2016.
  9. ↑ US v. Biheiri, Government’s Final Memorandum, 01/07/2004. 03-365-A.
  10. ↑ Levitt, Matthew (2008). Hamas: Politics, Charity, and Terrorism in the Service of Jihad. Yale University Press.
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