Meethaq Islamic Banking to be the first Oman-based global Primary Dealer for the IILM’s ‘A-1’ and ‘F1’ rated short-term Ṣukūk programme.

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – 31 December 2024

The International Islamic Liquidity Management Corporation (“IILM”) proudly welcomes Meethaq Islamic Banking from Bank Muscat as its newest Primary Dealer, making it the first banking institution from Sultanate of Oman to join the IILM’s distinguished global network of Primary Dealers.

The onboarding of Meethaq Islamic Banking from Bank Muscat highlights the remarkable growth of the IILM Sukuk in Sultanate of Oman, where its market share has increased five-fold from a mere 2% in 2023 to 10% in 2024. This significant progress underscores the rising demand for Shariah-compliant liquidity management tools and demonstrates the promising outlook for Islamic finance in Oman and beyond.

Chief Executive Officer of IILM, Mohamad Safri Shahul Hamid said, “We are delighted to acknowledge the expanding global investor interest in IILM’s short-term Ṣukūk throughout the year. It is our pleasure to welcome Meethaq Islamic Banking from Bank Muscat as our twelfth Primary Dealer, the second to join our distinguished group of global Primary Dealers in 2024, and the first from Oman. This is a great recognition and testament of the growing importance and relevance of the IILM’s short-term Ṣukūk as a high quality, low risk, Shari’ah-compliant instrument that not only serves as a liquidity management tool for institutions offering Islamic financial services (“IIFS”), but increasingly as a safe haven instrument (even) amongst the conventional investors globally.

“This comes at the right time for the IILM, as we had recently upsized the Ṣukūk Programme by 50% from USD 4 billion to USD 6 billion, and on the back of that, ramped up the outstanding Ṣukūk asset to USD 4.14 billion. We believe that Meethaq Islamic Banking from Bank Muscat, being the largest Islamic banking window in Oman, will add tremendous value to the IILM in distributing our highly rated Islamic short-term papers to a wider range of Islamic investors, in particular inevitably helping us to bridge the gaps faced by the Islamic financial institutions in managing their liquidity management.”

Ali Ahmed Al Lawati, Assistant General Manager – Meethaq Islamic Banking, said: “We are indeed very proud to be the first bank from Oman to be joining the IILM’s global network of diversified Primary Dealers, providing a unique solution to our clients and investors through the IILM’s innovative Shari’ah-compliant instruments. We see this strategic partnership with the IILM as an excellent opportunity to contribute to the stability of the wider Islamic finance ecosystem, in light of the increasingly volatile global market environment.”

The IILM’s USD 6 billion short-term Ṣukūk issuance programme is rated “A-1” by S&P and “F1” by Fitch Ratings. The IILM regularly issues short-term Ṣukūk across varying tenors and amounts to cater to the liquidity management needs of institutions offering Islamic financial services.

As the IILM grows, Meethaq Islamic Banking from Bank Muscat joins as the twelfth Primary Dealer, enhancing our global Sukuk distribution network that includes leading institutions such as Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank, Affin Islamic Bank, Al Baraka Turk, 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.