ICIEC receives “Middle East Clean Energy Deal of the Year” and “The Turkish Deal of the Year Award” at the PFI Awards.

[February 6, 2019, London, United Kingdom] The Islamic Corporation for the Insurance of Investment and Export Credit (ICIEC) won two prestigious awards at the Project Finance International (PFI) Awards, hosted in London on February 6th, 2019. The PFI awards are one of the most distinguished events in global project finance, bringing together the world’s project finance industry to celebrate excellence.

PFI Award: Middle East Clean Energy Deal of the Year – Sharjah WtE Project

The Sharjah waste-to-energy (WtE) project is the first WtE scheme to be financed in the Gulf region as the Gulf states move away from landfills to more environmentally friendly disposal solutions. The project, led by UAE clean energy firms Masdar and Bee’ah, will help Sharjah reach its zero waste to landfill target by 2020 and contribute to the UAE’s 2021 goal of diverting 75% of solid waste from landfill. ICIEC provided cover for the project’s construction financing, working in partnership with fellow financial institutions SMBC, Siemens Bank, Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, Abu Dhabi Fund for Development and Standard Chartered.

Turkish Deal of the Year – Çanakkale 1915 Bridge

This award recognizes Türkiye’s most significant project finance deal in recent history and one of the most high-profile construction projects ever undertaken in the country. The Canakkale project consists of an 88km three-lane motorway, 48km of connection roads, and the €1.68bn bridge, which will span 2,023m, making it the world’s longest once completed. ICIEC provided various levels of insurance cover, in partnership with several other export credit agencies.

Chief Executive Officer of ICIEC, Mr. Oussama Kaissi, thanked the PFI organizers, project finance collaborators and the other award winners, saying “I am delighted that ICIEC and our partners had the opportunity to shape two landmark transactions that serve both the economy and the environment.”

The Republic of Suriname has become the 45^th country to join the membership of The Islamic Corporation for the Insurance of Investment and Export Credit (ICIEC), further extending the Corporation’s global footprint. Other member countries from the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) are also in the process of completing their ICIEC membership applications.

Suriname is one of the smallest countries in South America, yet its population is one of the most ethnically diverse in the region. Its economy is dependent on natural resources, notably bauxite, of which it is one of the world’s top producers. Aside from natural resources, other key sources of income include agriculture and remittances, mainly from the Netherlands, French Guiana and the USA. The southern part of the country consists of tropical rainforest and sparsely inhabited savanna along the border with Brazil, which covers about 80% of Suriname's land surface.

Commenting on Suriname’s membership, Oussama Kaissi, the Chief Executive Officer of ICIEC, said: “I would like to welcome and thank the Republic of Suriname for joining the membership of ICIEC. Its membership opens the door for its private and public sectors to benefit from the risk mitigation services offered by ICIEC. Similarly, it allows exporters, banks and investors from other member countries to cover risks related to their operations in Suriname. ICIEC would like to take this opportunity to invite exporters, banks and investors in all countries, including those in Suriname, to benefit from the services it offers for the management of commercial and political risk.”

Johannesburg, South Africa, 07 November 2018 — The African Development Bank alongside Islamic Corporation for the Insurance of Investment and Export Credit (ICIEC), African Trade Insurance Agency (ATI) and GuarantCo, on Wednesday entered into a Memorandum of Understanding for a Co-Guarantee Platform (CGP). This initiative, the first of its kind and being promoted by the Bank, was signed on the first day of the Bank’s inaugural Africa Investment Forum in Johannesburg.

The Bank and its partners created the Co-Guarantee Platform for Africa, an innovative and collective de-risking instrument, to address the perceived high risk across the continent and the lack of capacity of traditional lenders to provide risk mitigation products for projects.

The platform is intended to increase the volume of insurance and guarantee solutions available to project sponsors and their bankers in a market-responsible manner. The objective is to mobilize greater amounts of investment that would otherwise not take place in the region in the absence of affordable risk mitigation products. The Platform is expected to enhance the relevance of the respective institutions’ instruments in the Region by implementing joint risk mitigation transactions.  

Speaking about the Bank’s rationale for the Platform, Akinwunmi Adesina,  President of the African Development Bank Group said, “There are many guarantee providers that can offer various types of credit enhancement and risk mitigation instruments in Africa, but cooperation among them has been either non-existent or on an ad hoc basis. Hence the need for a more formal collaboration among guarantee providers to maximize the use of their products in Africa.”

These four initial partners are financial institutions with strong experience operating on the continent, keen to participate in order to cooperate and create synergies with other development and commercial institutions in an effective and market-responsive manner. The platform is open to more participants including official development institutions and the private sector. 

This initiative will have a global outreach and aim at crowding in reluctant risk mitigation and credit enhancement providers across the world to make more projects happen in Africa- on more affordable terms for both African and foreign investors and lenders alike.

Dr. Bandar M. H. Hajjar, the President of the Islamic Development Bank Group, and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Islamic Corporation for the Insurance of Investment & Export Credit (ICIEC), noted that ICIEC, as a multilateral institution has a strong footprint in Africa with 23 member countries from within the continent, and has been actively mobilizing insurance and reinsurance capacity from the international market for Africa for the last 25 years. ICIEC intends to avail its services, expertise and network to cooperate with the participants of the Co-Guarantee Platform, in order to structure collectively innovative risk mitigation solutions that will help to facilitate and mobilize funding capacity for medium and long tenor projects in Africa.

George Otieno, Chief Executive Officer of the African Trade Insurance Agency (ATI) says “we welcome this initiative that was first suggested by the African Development Bank during the second meeting of the Abidjan Union held in 2017.  As the membership of African states in ATI grows – in part thanks to the financial assistance of the African Development Bank - we believe that no single institution alone can provide the amount of risk mitigation required to catalyze Africa’s enormous infrastructure requirements.  While ATI already works closely with the private insurance market, the recent insurance transaction concluded among the Bank, ATI and the private reinsurance market to insure a portfolio of the Bank’s non-sovereign financial sector loans in Africa, demonstrates the powerful impact cooperation among institutions can have on bettering the availability and terms and conditions of insurance in the region”.

Philippe Valahu, CEO, Private Infrastructure Development Group, said: “GuarantCo is delighted to participate in the Co-Guarantee Platform, particularly as it draws on our extensive experience in delivering guarantee and credit enhancement solutions in Africa. This initiative enables us to collaborate with institutions that share a similar vision as us; not only by recognising the deployment of capital and investment on the continent but, most importantly, by enabling local capital markets through risk mitigation solutions. We hope that the joint capacity, as created through this initiative, will result in more efficient information sharing, a better overview of risk across the continent and mobilisation of greater guarantee capacity”.

Moody's has affirmed ICIEC’s Insurer Financial Strength Rating (IFSR) rating of Aa3 with stable outlook for the 11^th consecutive year on July 2^nd 2018. The rating reflects ICIEC's improved profitability and underwriting performance, as the combined ratio improved to 108% from 200% in 2016. Moody’s notes that the combined ratio for 2017 was the lowest ICIEC has achieved over the past 5 years. Foreign investment insurance increased by 28% to USD 1.6 billion in comparison to USD 1.2 billion in 2016. Whereas a large portion of the premiums written in 2017 were in markets including Saudi Arabia and other GCC countries, ICIEC also won new clients in Kuwait, South Africa, France, and Egypt. ICIEC was also proactive in strengthening its reserves and maintaining a good investment strategy. Majority of investments assets were rated in investment grade category, with a high-risk-asset ratio improving to 14.2% from 16.8% in 2016. 

Moody’s noted that ICIEC is the only multilateral export credit and investment insurance corporation in the world that provides Shariah-compatible insurance and reinsurance products, and has enhanced regional knowledge. Moody's also noted that as a member of the IsDB Group, ICIEC benefits from various managerial synergies and support.

ICIEC's rating also reflected both the stand-alone fundamentals of the Corporation as well the strong ability and potentially high willingness of ICIEC's main ultimate shareholders, and in particular the Islamic Development Bank (Aaa stable), Saudi Arabia, (Aa3 Stable) and other GCC countries, to support the company in times of financial distress.

Today, for the first time in its four-decade of development intervention, the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) unveils a new brand identity that reflects its modern values, strategic direction and relationship with its 57-member countries. 

The Islamic Development Bank, one of the world’s largest Multilateral Development Banks, has been undergoing significant strategic reform in the last year, led by the Bank’s new President, H.E. Dr Bandar Hajjar, formerly KSA Minister of Hajj. 

As development enters a new era, Dr Hajjar is reimagining the traditional role of a development bank, making the organisation more globally facing, placing partnerships, technology and innovation, and global engagement at the heart of his modernising programme.

The new brand identity maintains the core elements of the IsDB’s heritage while signalling modernity, independence and transparency, future proofing the bank’s identity and evolving it for an international audience. 

H.E. Dr Bandar Hajjar, President of the Islamic Development Bank explained the momentous decision:“The Islamic Development Bank has been a symbol of trust, credibility, strength and stability for over 44 years, with a proud heritage of providing resources, fighting poverty and restoring dignity in our member countries. As we build on the successes of the past, we must also look to the future. I believe that this new brand identity is one of a world-class institution – tackling the challenges of today’s modern world.” 

The IsDB’s mission, as it enters its next stage of growth, includes equipping people to drive their own economic and social progress at scale; putting the necessary infrastructure in place to enable them to fulfil their potential; building collaborative partnerships between public and private sectors; and championing the latest science, technology and innovation led solutions to the UN Sustainable Development Goals. 

Dr Hayat Sindi, Scientific Advisor to the President and General Supervisor of Communications and External Relations for the Islamic Development Bank, said: “This is a significant moment in our organisation’s history. It is a new identity for the next generation of the IsDB, putting our vision at the heart of our brand, harnessing the achievements of our past, as we build towards the future.”

The Islamic Development Bank has also today launched a new website to coincide with their new brand identity and future vision. Please visit www.isdb.org

The Islamic Corporation for the Insurance of Investment and Export Credit (ICIEC), a member of the Islamic Development Bank Group (IDBG), has once again demonstrated its resilience in 2017 despite a year of general volatility, with the Corporation’s total Business Insured of US$7.5 billion in its member countries. The Corporation also generated a total premium income of USD 35.39 million. The proportion of Business Insured in the Short Term line of business decreased from 79% in 2016 to 76% in 2017 as opposed to the Investment Insurance increasing from 16% in 2016 to 21% in 2017. The Medium term remained the same at 5%. The positive outcome is attributable to various economic, political and social reforms that are sweeping through the region, resulting in a much improved business environment conducive to foreign and domestic direct investments.

The Corporation’s annual report and financial statements approved by its Board of Governors during their 25th meeting in Tunis on 05 April, 2018 revealed.

On the back of the strong performance, ICIEC has maintained, for the 9th year in a row, its Aa3 by Moody’s rating, which happens to be one of the strongest in the Export Credit and Political Risk Insurance industry.

Releasing the 2017 Annual Report at the 25^th-Annual Meeting of the ICIEC Board of Governors on April 1-5, 2018 in Tunis, Mr. Oussama A. Kaissi, Chief Executive Officer of ICIEC, expressed his optimism, saying: “Going forward, and on the basis of the expertise gained over the last 23 years in this field, ICIEC will continue to work hard, allowing the Corporation to carry out its developmental agenda toward its 44 Member Countries in a sustainable manner.”

“While none of us can predict the future with absolute certainty, I believe the forward-looking policy of the Corporation states unequivocally the commitment to pursue unabashed measures that harness this opportunity to foster economic growth,” Mr. Kaissi further said.

He went on to say: “I am confident that building on its robust performance in 2017, ICIEC will continue to meet its stakeholders’ expectations and will remain well placed to play its role of a catalyst in promoting trade and foreign direct investments in our Member Countries.“

“This meeting marks a historic year for ICIEC. At a time of continued global economic and financial vulnerability, the Corporation, with the strong support from IDBG, has yet again proven its leadership in and commitment to the progress of Member Countries where it is actively present.  It has continued to bolster investor confidence, attracting new investments into areas characterized by high risk,” Mr. Kaissi remarked at the conclusion of the meeting.

In 2017, ICIEC started to pursue the full implementation of all policies and procedures as recommended and adopted by the Group Risk Management’s (GRMD) Risk Management Guidelines for Insurance Operations (including the Credit Risk Assessment Guidelines for Corporates, Financial Institutions/Banks, and Projects). These guidelines have been modified to suit ICIEC’s specific needs and were approved by the Board.

Moreover, intra-trade among OIC Member Countries covered by ICIEC during 2017 reached USD3.18 billion, representing exports from 17 OIC Member Countries to 38 other OIC Member Countries, which is equivalent to 54% of trade credit insured by ICIEC during the year. The intra-trade and intra-investments among OIC Member Countries, which ICIEC facilitates, has been growing, on average, by 35% per annum over the last five years. It jumped from USD 1.3 billion in 2013 to USD 4 billion in 2017.

During the ICIEC’S High Level Panel Discussion (HLPD) titled “Beyond the Risk Perception: Strategic Alliances between Export Credit Agencies (ECAs) and Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) to facilitate International Trade and Investment Flows”, existing opportunities and challenges that affect negatively the overall investment climate, deteriorate perceptions of investors and traders were identified, cognizant of the role of governments, MDBs, ECAs and private sector business partners in enhancing the intra-OIC trade and investment.

The meeting winded up with the Board of Governors also appointing new external financial auditors for 2019.

The AMAN UNION held its eighth Annual Meeting in Istanbul, Türkiye, from October 31 to November 2, 2017, hosted by the official export credit agency of Türkiye, Export Credit Bank of Türkiye. The Meeting brought together the AMAN UNION’s Members as well as honorable guests from the industry to discuss the important issues in the credit insurance and reinsurance sector, export credit and trade finance and to tackle the challenges faced in these areas.

The meeting kicked off with welcome addresses by the Chairman of General Assembly Mr. Adnan YILDIRIM; Mr. Fahad Al Ibrahim as Chairman of Executive Council; Mr. Oussama KAISSI as the AMAN UNION Secretary General; H.E. Nihat ZEYBEKCI, Minister of Economy (Türkiye); H.E. Binali YILDIRIM, Prime Minister of Türkiye. The opening ceremony included a ceremony of the transferring the chairmanship of the General Assembly as well. After the opening session, Mr. Cheikh Ahmed DIOP, from Chief Economist Complex, the Islamic Development Bank, gave a keynote speech regarding “Financial Implications of the Brexit decision on the OIC Member Countries”.

The Sessions started with a presentation on ‘Development in Products, Systems Organization in 2017 and Business Expectations for 2018,’ followed by a presentation about AMAN UNION performance analysis delivered by Mr. Mourad Mizouri from the Secretariat General of the AMAN UNION, where the Presenter announced that the members supported an amount of US$ 32.6 billion of trade and paid 85.0 million US$ claims during 2016. Other presentations consisted of “Investment Climate in OIC Member Countries: Prospects and Challenges by Mr. Cen TİNTİN – Senior Researcher at SESRIC”; “Settlement of Disputes in International Trade Finance” by Ms. Candan Yasan TEPETAS – Secretary General of Istanbul Arbitration Center”.

Day two of the Meeting witnessed an extensive workshop regarding “The Link between Trade Finance & Export Credit Insurance from Banks & Exporters Perspective”. Within the context of workshop, there were two parts namely Trade Finance and Structured Finance respectively.

Mr. Harun ÇELİK from ITFC, Mr. Fehmi TUTULMAZ from Ziraat Participation Bank, Ms. Sevtap İZGİ from Arçelik, Mr. Ural İNAL from Temsa, Mr. Anbarasan from ECGC and Mr. Vinco DAVID from Berne Union were the speakers for Part 1.

Mr. Oliver ROTH from ING, Ms. Ceren TAK from Deutsche Bank, Mr. Haydar ERGUN from SUMMA,
Mr. Walid SARIEDDINE from Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation and Mr. Toby HEPPEL from RFIB (Robert Fleming Insurance Brokers) made their presentations for the Part 2. Each part ended up with Open Discussions.

Furthermore, a signing ceremony took place where an MOU was signed by the Secretary General of AMAN UNION and Secretary General of Berne Union to strengthen the cooperation between both entities.

The AMAN UNION 8^th Annual Meeting concluded with the General Assembly of the AMAN UNION where plans for the coming years were presented, along with the introduction of the new members for AMAN UNION.

ICIEC is endowed with "Global Islamic Export Credit and Political Risk Insurance Award 2017" in the 7th Global Islamic Finance Awards Ceremony (GIFA Ceremony) held at  Kazakhstan on September 06, 2017. The ceremony was attended by heads of state and government, ministers, ambassadors and Islamic financial fraternity from around the world. The distinguished guests included HE. Nursultan Nazarbayev, President of Kazakhstan, and
HE. Ismail Omar Guelleh, President of Djibouti.

Global Islamic Finance Awards (GIFA) is the most prestigious Islamic finance awards programme in the world, which was founded in 2011 by Edbiz Corporation as part of its advocacy for Islamic banking and finance. Since then it has annually been offering its top award – Global Islamic Finance Leadership Award – to heads of state or government (or equivalent) for their leadership and advocacy roles in promoting Islamic banking and finance in their respective jurisdictions or globally.

Commenting on the award having been conferred on ICIEC, its Chief Executive Officer,
Mr Oussama Abdel Rahman Kaissi said “It is indeed an honor to receive again this year the prestigious "Global Islamic Export Credit and Political Risk Insurance Award 2017”. “We are committed to facilitate trade and promote investment between ICIEC's member countries and the rest of the world by providing Shariah compliant risk mitigation insurance solutions”. “Receiving this award enforces our belief in the need to further expand our products' offering in order to meet the evolving risk mitigation requirements of our clients”, he added.

“Our excellent performance did not go unnoticed globally, with no less than the Moody’s Investors Service reaffirming in July 2017 the Aa3 insurance financial strength rating (IFSR) for the tenth consecutive year which recognizes our stong financial and operating leverage,” he pointed out.

ICIEC continues its high performance in terms of Business Insured, along with the increasing demand of the market on Investment and Credit Insurance services. The cumulated Business Insured volume has reached USD 18.15 billion within the period of 2014-2016, including Investment Insurance of USD 3.12 billion and Credit Insurance short and Medium-term amounted to USD 15 billion.

Jeddah

The Islamic Corporation for the Insurance of Investment and Export Credit (ICIEC), a member of the Islamic Development Bank Group (IDBG), registered steady growth in its insurance operations in 2016. The Corporation’s annual report and financial statements approved by its Board of Governors during their 24th meeting in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on 16 May, 2017 revealed. 

The report has showed a 10% growth in business insurance operations to reach US$ 4,468 billion the whole the year. At the same time, new commitments showed an overall increase of 14% during the year 2016. In terms of distribution by business lines, the Short Term continues to capture the largest share of the business insured with 63%, followed by the Investment Insurance with 28% and Medium Term with 9%. 

Since June 2008, the Corporation has succeeded in maintaining this remarkable achievement, notwithstanding the impact of the financial crisis over the few past years. The latest rating announcement was made on November 16, 2016, where ICIEC’s rating of Aa3 was maintained with stable outlook. 

The Islamic Development Bank's (IDB) Investment Promotion Technical Assistance Program (ITAP) managed by ICIEC, whose aim is to unlock the developmental potential of member countries through a comprehensive and integrated program of foreign investment promotion and technical assistance, has successfully delivered and participated in 12 projects and initiatives in 2016 in collaboration with key internal and external partners mobilizing significant financial and technical resources. Furthermore, ITAP has also launched several institutional development initiatives to improve the program’s performance. 

Commenting on the results, Mr. Oussama A. Kaissi, Chief Executive Officer of ICIEC, said “our concerted implementation of the strategy is clearly reflected in the figures. Altogether, the work we have achieved over the past few years has given us an efficient structure to build upon. None of this would have been possible without great dedication within our company and strong cooperation with various shareholders.” 

He further said: “We are now preparing for the next stage in our journey. Our strategy stands firm: we will become even better at combining knowledge of our markets and stronger ties with our member countries through unwavering shared processes and structures. By focusing even more on taking advantage of our size and the synergies that exist between our operations, we will continue to strengthen both the Corporation as a whole and the individual member countries. This will also enable us to continue to generate value for the shareholders, employees, customers and society in general.” 

Moreover, in the meeting, it was agreed that ICIEC will intensify interaction with leading companies and ECAs on how the corporation is intending to meet the investors’ requirements in terms of profitability and risk mitigation tools as well as delivering projects and services which are in line with the IDBG development impact requirements. The meeting winded up with the Board of Governors also appointing new external financial auditors for 2018.

ICIEC has recently signed new reinsurance agreements with the Algerian Credit Insurance Company (CAGEX) – the national Export Credit Agency of Algeria. 

Under the agreements, CAGEX will be the insurer, and the ICIEC, along with the CCR (Compagnie Centrale de Reassurance) will be the reinsurers with 45% quota share each. The said agreement will help to further businesses in Algeria since the expected portfolio will be in the range of USD 300 million from first year alone. 

ICIEC and CAGEX have had a good business relationship for a long time under the Reinsurance Facultative Agreement signed in June 2006, the quota share treaty of CAGEX, which was signed in March 2008, and the Agency agreement signed in May 2009. 

The latest agreements is a continuation of the ICIEC strategy to be the main partner of the ECAs in our member countries through providing them the required reinsurance and capacity building support in order to help these ECAs achieve their mandate and better serve their national clients. 

Commenting on the recent agreement, ICIEC Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Oussama A. Kaissi said the reinsurance accord reached with CAGEX increases the financial stability of insurers by spreading risks, and facilitates placing large or unusual exposures with one company, thus reducing the time spent seeking insurance and eliminating the need for numerous policies to cover one exposure. “Without reinsurance, companies would find it much more difficult to compete internationally,” he added, “as reinsurance often also increases the amount of insurance the underlying insurer can sell.”