Al-Khamees: KFH began with temporary offices, currently has 200 branches worldwide

Ibraheem Al-Khamees

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KFHKFH.. 33 years of success, excellence
On the August 31^st 1978 (27^th Ramadan 1398) Kuwait Finance HouseKuwait Finance House opened its doors for its clients, which announced the launching of the Islamic banking industry in Kuwait. Later on, collective efforts led to making KFHKFH a pioneer in Islamic banking.

After the Amiri decree that was issued during the era of the late Sheikh Sabah Al-Salem Al-Sabah on March 23^rd 1977 to establish KFHKFH, KFHKFH went through a 9 months establishment phase, where the management provided the bank with all Kuwaiti human and material resources to establish the bank, which allowed KFHKFH to prepare a generation of Kuwaiti leaders, and this made KFHKFH famous for being called Harvard of Islamic banks. The decree stipulated the establishment of KFHKFH as a Kuwaiti shareholding company, where the government possesses 49%. The founders were the Ministry of Finance (Currently the Public Investment Authority) by 20%, Ministry of Justice 20%, and Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs 9%.

Ibrahim Al-Khamees, the first KFHKFH employee and currently the board secretary, said that work began in the temporary office in Ahmed Al-Jaber St. then moved to Emad Commercial Center in 1983 on the same street, until the current headquarters was completely built in 1986 on an area of 1500 square meter with 945 square meters space around it. He added that KFHKFH began with a capital of KD 10 million, and that it was a new experience for the employees to work in the field of Islamic banking that was totally new in Kuwait, which resulted in having many people who were skeptical about its success and its banking methodology in the banking field, but the will of all the employees was stronger than their doubts.

The late Amir Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah took the first step in founding KFHKFH by issuing an Amiri decree, which reveals his keenness in supporting the concept. Al-Khamees recalls that the most challenging obstacle that KFHKFH faced in the beginning was the lack of knowledge of Islamic transactions by the public. However, KFHKFH managed to overcome that obstacle by arranging several Islamic forums for clients and the public, in addition to providing them with publications regarding Islamic transactions, which turned KFHKFH into a model for Islamic banking worldwide.

KFHKFH

Ahmed Al-Yasseen says that KFHKFH did not meet any challenges at that time, since Kuwaitis were in great need of Shariah compliant banking services, in addition to the official support and assistance that KFHKFH received from the Amir Sheikh Jaber Al-Sabah, who vowed to begin applying Shariah in Kuwait once it is liberated from the occupation.

First Chairman Ahmed Al-Yasseen

First General Manager Bader Al-Mukhaizeem

First Shariah Councilor Bader Abdul Basset

First Female Employee Iqbal Shehab

First Banking Sector Manager Mubarak Al-Noot

First External Relations Manager Adnan Al-Bahar

First counter employee Homoud Al-Harran

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© Press Release 2010