Kuwait Finance House-Bahrain (KFH-Bahrain) and Fortis are forging a strategic partnership that will introduce an innovative and promising Shari'a compliant product to the market. The world-leading financial institutions finalized the provisions for a Shari'a Compliant Overnight Fund (SCOF) with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding today, March 28, 2007. The SCOF is a viable solution for managing short-term liquidity with corresponding opportunity to invest on an overnight basis. With the SCOF, Islamic Institutions can buy shares of real estate companies and be entitled to receive rent proceeds of Shari'a compliant assets. "Fortis Prime Fund Solution is very enthusiastic about servicing this innovative product. This partnership between KFH and Fortis Direct Real Estate has brought together teams of experts from our two leading institutions to work on this exiting project.", says Bernard Tancré, General Manager of Prime Fund Solution at Fortis Banque Luxembourg. The KFH Shari'a Board issued the approval for the structure, and has classified the fund as 100% compliant to Ijarah and Musharaka principles. It is envisaged that the SCOF will be developed under the new specialized investment fund legislation. Mr. Abdulhakeem Alkhayyat, General Manager of KFH-Bahrain stresses the significance of the partnership, "We are extremely pleased that KFH could collaborate with a leading European Financial Institution like Fortis in order to bring to the Islamic Banking Industry an innovative Shari'a compliant product allowing Islamic Institutions to efficiently manage their short-term liquidity." A collaborative team from the KFH and Fortis camps is targeting a launch within three months, and is setting up plans for a road show that will introduce the product to potential investors in the GCC. Adds Lilian Le Falher, KFH-Bahrain's Head of Treasury, FI and Asset Management, "Liquidity Management within the Islamic Banking Industry has been a key topic for the last few years and it was time to bring to the market an innovative structure, not only Shari'a Compliant, but perfectly in accordance with the Shari'a spirit." The size of the SCOF will be capped by the size of the underlying real estate fund which is currently approaching the US $1 Billion mark. KFH-Bahrain will act as a Broker and nominee for investors in the SCOF.