Kuwait Banking - MarcoPolis

Interview with Abdullah Al Sumait, Deputy CEO of Al Ahli Bank. In Kuwait most of the banks have made aggressive moves the past three to five years whereas other banks (non Kuwait) have been more cautious towards growth. Eventually big banks all around the world have been hit and Kuwait is not any different. When this happened at the end of 2008 Kuwait government took good steps to protect banks and the financial sector and the central bank enacted some regulations to assure the banks in Kuwait, it would provide the needed liquidity.

Kuwait Investments, Global Securities House and Gatehouse Bank

March 15, 2010

Interview with Fahed Faisal Boodai, Gatehouse Bank. When we at Kuwait Global Securities House say cherry picking we look at this from two points. One, from the investor’s standpoint what does the investor and what are the clients needs in this market? For example, In 2002-2003 Kuwait Global Securities House invested heavily in GCC and Kuwait real estate but slowed down in 2004 – that is where the cherry picking comes in and where opportunities began to be handpicked. Most importantly real estate and investment are all about timing. In 2006-2007, Global Securities House started exiting some of these investments and I think that that was very smart because given the economic downturn we recently witnessed Global Securities House would have really been hurt.

Gulf Bank Kuwait Banking Kuwait Banking Interviews

Gulf Bank Kuwait New Strategy

March 4, 2010

Interview with Mr. Michel Accad, CEO of Gulf Bank
In December, Gulf Bank Kuwait had a meeting with the top fifty leaders at Gulf Bank and we decided on Gulf Bank’s strategic direction. Gulf Bank’s vision was to be a dominant player in the local, conventional banking market, focusing on retail and commercial banking. At this stage, Gulf Bank is not particularly interested in Islamic finance, or direct investments, or brokerage. The key thing that came up from that meeting was that for the next two years Gulf Bank will be in rebuilding mode and our strategy will revolve around four pillars.

Kuwait Banking Kuwait Islamic Banking Interviews

Kuwait Leading Islamic Bank, Kuwait Finance House (KFH)

February 11, 2010

Interview with Mohammed Sulaiman Al-Omar, CEO of Kuwait Finance House (KFH). Kuwait Finance House is in green numbers and working within the markets. If we as Kuwait Finance House look at Kuwait costs of funding, it came down from 6.5% to 3% which is almost 50% and if I was a bank and wanted to price my product I would need to look at the base rate, which has come down quite a huge percentage. Thus, Kuwait Finance House is still in the green and are optimistic for the market in the banking sector.