Al-Marzouq: KFH has been operating in Turkey for over 30 years with a variety of achievements

Al-Marzouq: KFH has been operating in Turkey for over 30 years with a variety of achievements

Chairman of Kuwait Finance House (KFH) Hamad Abdulmohsen Al-Marzouq and KFH-Turkey CEO, Ufuk Uyan have participated in the Investment Opportunities & Collaboration Areas between Turkey and Kuwait webinar.

The event was attended by Her Excellency the Ambassador of The Republic of Turkey in Kuwait Ayşe Hilal Koytak, His Excellency Kuwaiti Ambassador to Turkey Ghassan al-Zawawi, the President of the Investment Office Burak Dağlıoğlu and a number of C-suite executives and media representatives.

During the virtual panel discussion, Al-Marzouq thanked everyone who helped organize this useful event and is participating in the discussion panels to improve bilateral relations and cooperation between the truly two friends Turkey and Kuwait.

He said 'Kuwait and Turkey have strong economic and diplomatic relations for more than 50 years, and both countries have made remarkable progress over the past decade by signing a variety of agreements covering trade, defense, and economic cooperation. Over the past five years, there have been numerous visits between the leaders and high-level government officials of both countries to solidify this cooperation even further. This was a major driver to improve bilateral business and trade relations between Turkey and Kuwait, benefiting many institutions in both countries. As a result of this, economic relations are deepening more each year and we believe there is quite significant room still for growth. Under Kuwait's development plan 'New Kuwait Vision' to transform the country into a financial and trade hub by 2035, Turkish companies are involved in major multi-million-dollar construction projects such as the new Kuwait International airport.'

Al-Marzouq pointed out that KFH Group has been operating in Turkey through Kuwait Turk Participation Bank for more than 30 years with a variety of positive achievements. Today, we are among the top ten banks in Turkey while competing with nearly 50 domestic and foreign banks. Turkey is a dynamic market offering good opportunities to investors from all over the world with strong technological infrastructure and qualified human resources. As KFH, we have benefited in many ways from our presence in Turkey not only from a financial return stand point but also from the Technology savvy subsidiary in Turkey which made KTPB a leader in the Turkish Banking sector and spreading the knowledge to other parts of KFH group,' He added.

He explained that the objective from the beginning has always been to be an added value to Turkey and become sort of a bridge between Kuwait and Turkey. KTPB has been active in providing support to the development efforts evident by our participation in several major transactions to finance infrastructure projects in both countries. Examples of this is the financing of 200 million Euro credit facilities for Limak for the construction of landmark Çanakkale bridge in Turkey and in the $831 million syndication loan for Kuwait Airport. In addition to this, we have extended our support in many big projects such as treasury sukuks and renewable energy projects with the trust and confidence we have in the Turkish economy. In the long term, we will continue our support for the Turkish economy as we have always done in the past.

Al-Marzouq said 'Turkey has also provided us with a platform to expand our business to different jurisdictions such as Europe. In this regard, KT Bank AG in Germany, which is the first participation bank in the Eurozone, plays a key role in facilitating businesses by connecting Kuwait and Europe through Turkey. The bank uses unique innovative digital banking solutions relying on the advanced IT infrastructure of the bank, which was part of a successful digital transformation strategy that the bank has implemented.'

He added 'Considering Turkey's and Kuwait's mutual priorities and targets for increasing trade, we believe that there is room for further opportunities in many sectors including finance, construction, infrastructure, education, and healthcare. We can sense that there is a lot of interest from local investors in Turkey if presented with the right investment opportunities with proper risk reward parameters. We believe that there are certain measures to encourage the investment flow between the two countries. An example is to consider abolishing the withholding tax on the dividend distribution. Of course, our meeting today will create supportive platforms to discuss measures aiming at encouraging investments flows and opportunities between the two countries.'

Al-Marzouq believes that the Investment Opportunities & Collaboration Areas between Turkey and Kuwait webinar is a quite useful platform for the further development of Turkish-Kuwait economic relations. He said it is both informative and beneficial to all participants and he voiced hope it will pave the way for bigger and better achievements in the future.

Ufuk Uyan

Meanwhile, KFH-Turkey CEO, Ufuk Uyan said 'With its strong capital structure, stable and healthy growth, KFH-Turkey continues to grow since its establishment. As of 2021, the share of participation finance institutions in the assets of the banking sector in Turkey reached 7.3%. KFH-Turkey ranks the first among the participation banks in terms of funds collected, financing and asset size. As a result of our high performance in the recent past, we reinforce our position among participation finance institutions and rose to the 10th place in the banking sector in terms of assets.'

He added during the panel discussion that KFH-Turkey offers quality and fast banking services by means of technological solutions through its 6 thousand employees and 439 branches across Turkey. KFH-Turkey also operates Kuwait and Bahrain offices and its 100-percent subsidiary KT Bank AG in Germany.

Uyan pointed out that KFH- Turkey takes pioneering steps in meeting customer expectations and coping with digital developments.

He explained that KFH-Turkey established first R&D Center in Turkish banking sector, which develops projects like BOA Banking Platform, will be used by more than 60 banks in nearly 20 countries by the end of 2021. 'During the pandemic, we also offered our digital assistant, which serves our customers on digital channels. Currently, while the number of our digital customers exceeded 2 million, our digital transaction rate is over 90 percent.

He also said 'Apart from these, we are performing remarkable social responsibility projects with adopting the motto 'We are growing with our values. If we look at our future vision and priorities, it can be said that we have created our strategies under 3 main headings which are sustainable profitable growth, customer and digital.

Support to Kuwaiti invertors in Turkey

Uyan underlined that KFH-Turkey has a deep experience and expert staff in the service provided to foreign customers, indicating 'we provide domestic and overseas customers with privileged services at our Istanbul Private Banking Branch. Our customers can receive detailed information directly by talking to customer representative who support with Turkish, English and Arabic language options. we have 235 thousand foreign customers. The number of our Kuwaiti customers is more than 17 thousand. The services we offer to them include consultancy services, investment products and financial solutions.

He confirmed that KFH-Turkey will continue to provide quality and reliable services to our Kuwaiti customers in many areas with our sound banking principles and ethical values.