Emirates Islamic wins ‘Most Innovative Sukuk’ award at The Banker Islamic Banking Awards 2023

Emirates Islamic, one of the leading Islamic financial institutions in the UAE, announced that it has been awarded the ‘Most Innovative Sukuk’ award by the globally renowned Financial Times’ monthly publication, The Banker, for its inaugural AED 1 billion dirham-denominated sukuk.

Emirates Islamic recently announced the successful pricing of its inaugural AED 1 billion dirham-denominated sukuk, the first such dirham sukuk issuance by a UAE bank. The Sukuk sale is intended to expand financing options for UAE corporations with Shari’ah-compliant needs while enhancing the development of the medium-term dirham yield curve. The three-year issue attracted a strong orderbook and was 2.5 times oversubscribed which allowed the Bank to tighten the profit rate to 5.05%, at a spread of 67 basis points over UAE Government Treasuries.

Salah Amin, Chief Executive Officer, Emirates Islamic commented, “At Emirates Islamic, we are extremely pleased to be awarded as ‘Most Innovative Sukuk’ by The Banker. Emirates Islamic’s benchmark dirham sukuk further underscores the dirham bond market’s role as a significant and competitively priced source of funding for corporates. As a home-grown bank, Emirates Islamic is proud to play an important role in reinforcing the UAE’s position as the financial center of the region and supporting government initiatives.”

Mohammad Kamran Wajid, Deputy CEO of Emirates Islamic added, “We are pleased to be recognised by a prominent institution like The Banker for our contribution to supporting UAE government initiatives to develop the local debt market. The strong vote of confidence on our inaugural AED 1 billion dirham-denominated sukuk from global Shari’ah-compliant investors reflects Emirates Islamic’s standing as an innovation-led leader in the UAE Islamic banking sector.”