Fitch Ratings has been recognised as the Best Islamic Finance Rating Agency by the Global Islamic Finance Awards (GIFA) 2020.
The objective of GIFA is to highlight the best practices in Islamic banking and finance. Winners are decided by a nomination committee based on proprietary methodology undertaken by Cambridge International Financial Advisory.
Selection criteria for the awards include innovation, quantity and quality, cross-border reach of products and services, as well as social responsibility, sharia authenticity, and commitment to Islamic banking and finance.
Fitch helped shape Islamic Finance with its dedicated sukuk rating criteria, which goes back more than a decade; and provides specific consideration to environment, social and governance factors in its ESG scores in rating Islamic banks.
It is the leading agency to provide globally standardised cross-sector rating action sector commentaries and takaful-specific considerations within its global insurance rating criteria.
Fitch rates more Islamic banks than any other global credit rating agency, covering more than 35 Islamic finance-based issuers worldwide and more than 140 outstanding Islamic finance instruments. It has the largest market share in rupiah sukuk issuance in Indonesia.
Recent landmark deals in which Fitch participated include the first sovereign green sukuk, issued by Indonesia in 2018, and its follow-up issue in 2019 and 2020, as well as the first benchmark US dollar corporate green sukuk issued by Majid Al Futtaim in 2019.
Fitch also rated the first Formosa sukuk issued by Qatar Islamic Bank in January 2020 that was listed on the Taipei Stock Exchange. The agency also rated DP World’s hybrid sukuk in 2020, which is the first corporate hybrid sukuk to have an international rating.
In addition, Fitch rated Islamic Development Bank’s first sustainability sukuk, which aims to help member countries tackle the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The agency’s Global Head of Islamic Finance Bashar Al Natoor and the Islamic Finance Group coordinate all Islamic finance activities and expertise across the Sovereign, Financial Institutions, Corporates, Structured Finance, Infrastructure, and Insurance teams worldwide.
Source Fitch Ratings