JEDDAH, 22 April 2008 — Moody’s Investors Service, one of the leading rating agencies in the world, assigned for the first-time insurance financial strength rating (IFSR) of Aa3 to the Islamic Corporation for the Insurance of Investment and Export Credit (ICIEC), the rating outlook is stable. Moody’s notes that ICIEC’s rating reflects both the stand-alone fundamentals as well as potential support from its shareholders/IDB Group member countries.
Thus, despite the absence of explicit guarantees, in the context of its key role as facilitator of member counties’ exports and inward foreign investments, ICIEC’s rating reflects the strong ability and potentially willingness of ICIEC’s main ultimate shareholders to support the company in times of financial distress.
Dr. Abdel Rahman Taha, the general manager of ICIEC, mentioned that this rating puts ICIEC at par with the major insurers of credit and political risk in the international market and should, therefore, encourage more utilization of its services by exporters and banks from member countries and investors worldwide.
It is worth mentioning that ICIEC was established in 1994 with the mission to encourage exports from member countries and to facilitate the flow of foreign investment to member countries by providing and encouraging the use of Shariah-compliant export credit and investment insurance/reinsurance as credit and political risk mitigation instruments.
