Kuwait Finance House (KFH) won two MEED magazine awards: Best Digital Bank in Kuwait and MENA Best Islamic SME Bank. These awards recognize KFH's leading successes in digital transformation and evolving customer banking services, alongside its prominent role in providing integrated financing solutions that support SME growth, expansion, and sustainability.

MEED confirmed that choosing KFH came after a thorough evaluation process amidst high competition within the 2026 Banking Excellence Awards for the Retail Banking, Digitalization and SME sectors in the Middle East and North Africa region.

The magazine explained that this year's awards celebrate and recognize financial institutions for their strength in shaping the banking sector’s future regional through innovation, enhancing customer experience, digital transformation, and supporting economic development sustainability.

"Despite intense competition, KFH successfully demonstrated its superior performance, operational flexibility, and vital contributions to regional banking. The bank confidently continues to lead the industry by supporting customers, ensuring business continuity, and strengthening the regional economy amid exceptional challenges," MEED added.

Haytham Alterkait

Commenting on the accolades, Deputy Group CEO Transformation, Technology and Operations at KFH, Haytham Alterkait said that winning the Best Digital Bank in Kuwait award reflects the bank’s major achievements in digitalization and the growing role of technology in enhancing business and operational activities.

Alterkait added that KFH continues investing in the latest financial technology services, digital product design, and smart solutions under the highest quality, governance, and cybersecurity standards. This raises productivity, accelerates service delivery, lowers costs, and enhances customer satisfaction, confidence, and banking experiences while anticipating future growth. Ultimately, this has consolidated the bank’s position as a prominent digital banking institution regionally and globally.

Yousef Almutawa

As for the MENA Best Islamic SME Bank Award, KFH Group Chief Corporate Banking Officer, Yousef Almutawa, emphasized that award reflects the growing confidence in the bank’s capabilities and its excellence in building long-term strategic partnerships with varies corporate customers, in addition to providing advanced financial solutions that support business expansion of and enhance competitiveness in local and global markets.

Almutawa added that KFH continues to support SMEs with an integrated suite of Sharia compliant financing solutions like Murabaha, Ijara, and Tawarruq, alongside advanced digital services, financial advisory, and training programs aimed at empowering corporates and enhancing their sustainability.

He pointed out that KFH offers various solutions for SMEs, including cash financing, letters of credit, and letters of guarantee, to meet diverse corporate needs.

Almutawa noted that KFH launched the "Growing Sustainably" program with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) to promote sustainable business practices among SMEs, while providing technical consultation and knowledge sharing to support project growth and sustainability.

Award criteria

MEED`s MENA Banking Excellence Awards honor financial institutions and banks that achieve advanced levels of leadership, innovation and impact in retail banking, digital services and SME sectors.

Supported by the MEED editorial team, an independent jury judges the awards based on defined qualitative and quantitative criteria. The process focuses on measurable outcomes, evidence-based results, and responsiveness to evolving customer and market needs, with winners selected according to the specific criteria of each category.

Judges’ Citation

Best Digital Bank – Kuwait

“Kuwait Finance House has done what few banks can credibly claim: it has made digital the default, not the alternative. With more than 600 million transactions processed digitally in 2025, a platform spanning over 330 end-to-end services, and the successful launch of TAM, Kuwait’s first fully sharia-compliant digital bank, KFH demonstrated that digital transformation at scale can be strategically coherent, customer-led and commercially proven.”

MENA Best Islamic SME Bank

“Kuwait Finance House stood out for using Islamic banking as a practical growth platform for SMEs and entrepreneurs, not just as a financing structure. Through sharia-compliant SME support, microfinance solutions, digital access at scale, and its collaboration with UNDP to support sustainable growth pathways for SMEs and entrepreneurs, KFH demonstrated a proposition that combines access, capability building and responsible Islamic finance.”