Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – 4 December 2024

The International Islamic Liquidity Management Corporation (IILM) has successfully completed its final Ṣukūk issuance of the year, capping off a period of remarkable success and growth in 2024. This 14^th auction of the year follows a series of significant milestones, including a nearly 20% increase in the outstanding size to USD 4.14 billion (end-2023: USD 3.51 billion), and marked steady and continued expansion of the investor base across diverse jurisdictions and new markets.

Today, the IILM has successfully completed the reissuance of an aggregate USD 690 million short-term Ṣukūk across three different tenors of one, three, and six-month respectively, namely:

i) 58% for USD 360 million for 1-month tenor;

ii) 65% for USD 200 million for 3-month tenor; and

iii) 52% for USD 130 million for 6-month tenor.

Despite challenging global market conditions and persistent uncertainty, the demand for the IILM’s Ṣukūk remains strong, highlighting investor confidence and the resilience of Islamic finance. The substantial growth in both the volume and geographic spread of investor participation underscores the IILM’s strengthened position in the global Islamic capital market and its continued ability to attract both existing and new investors, reflected in the healthy order book in excess of USD1.48 billion, i.e. a bid-to-cover ratio of 215%.  

Mr. Mohamad Safri Shahul Hamid, Chief Executive Officer of the IILM, said: “This year’s Ṣukūk offerings in excess of a cumulated amount of USD 13 billion have demonstrated our ability to adapt to new market dynamics, manoeuvre shifting market rates expectations while maintaining a strong investor confidence. The solid demand for the IILM Ṣukūk, particularly in new markets, reinforces our commitment to expanding access to Shari’ah-compliant liquidity tools opportunities worldwide. This auction represents the final Ṣukūk issuance for 2024, which further solidifies the IILM’s leadership in the global Ṣukūk market.”

“The expansion of the IILM’s issuance programme size to USD 6 billion (from USD 4 billion) has facilitated the inclusion of new Ṣukūk assets worth approximately USD 1 billion, allowing us to reach USD 4.14 billion in outstanding asset portfolio, post-redemption of maturing assets. This has enabled the IILM to further diversify its asset portfolio, while expanding the volume of its monthly short-term Ṣukūk issuances currently averaging at USD 1 billion (end-2023: USD 960 million) to a projected average of USD 1.3 billion in 2025, Insya Allah. This will inevitably reinforce the growing importance of IILM’s short-term Ṣukūk to the Islamic financial institutions across the globe, in providing them with much-needed access to reliable and dependable sources of high-quality liquid asset instruments,” Safri added.

2024 also saw the IILM’s extension of its global footprint to a broader investor base by tapping new markets, as well as the inclusion of Affin Islamic Bank in May 2024 as the IILM’s eleventh primary dealer, alongside the impending onboarding of the first primary dealer from Oman.

The IILM saw the participation of 25 new investors across different regions for its short-term Ṣukūk this year, including 13 Islamic accounts, which further reflects the growing market confidence in the IILM’s high-quality Islamic papers and reinforces the IILM’s status as a unique provider of Shari’ah-compliant liquidity management solutions.

Looking ahead into 2025, the IILM plans to ramp up its asset origination activities through bespoke and attractive offerings to address the diverse needs of global sovereign and sovereign-linked Ṣukūk issuers, as well as rolling out alternative to Ṣukūk assets to allow further growth of supply and meet the growing market demand.

The IILM will also continue to expand its investor base and network of primary dealers as it looks to expand regional collaborations and enter new markets to further integrate Islamic liquidity solutions into the global financial system.

The IILM remains committed to developing the Islamic liquidity management infrastructure and enhancing the Shari’ah-compliant liquidity tools available to the market, working closely with scholars, regulators, and industry stakeholders to resolve inconsistencies that may hinder growth.

Since the inaugural issuance of the short-term Ṣukūk under the IILM Ṣukūk Programme in 2013, the IILM has issued a cumulative of USD 113.95 billion worth of short-term Ṣukūk across 276 series. The issuance forms part of the IILM’s “A-1” (S&P) and “F1” (Fitch Ratings) rated USD 6 billion short-term Ṣukūk issuance programme.

The IILM regularly issues short-term Ṣukūk across 1-month, 3-month, 6-month, and 12-month tenors to cater to the liquidity needs of institutions offering Islamic financial services. The IILM will continue to reissue its short-term liquidity instruments monthly as scheduled in its issuance calendar.

The IILM’s short-term Sukῡk is currently distributed by a diversified network of 11 primary dealers globally, namely Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank, Al Baraka Turk, Affin Islamic Bank, Boubyan Bank, CIMB Islamic Bank Berhad, Dukhan Bank, First Abu Dhabi Bank, Kuwait Finance House, Maybank Islamic Berhad, Qatar Islamic Bank, and Standard Chartered Bank.