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The Kuala Lumpur-based International Islamic Liquidity Management Corporation ( IILM ) has broken new ground in its sukuk maturity profile by issuing a nine-month tenor for the first time, demonstrating “its ongoing commitment to innovation in Islamic liquidity management”.
This comes as the IILM announced on November 17 the issuance and re-issuance of a total US$1.35 billion in short-term sukuk across five tenors – marking the first time it has offered this breadth of maturity profiles within a single auction.
The landmark issuance featured one-, two-, three-, six- and ( the inaugural ) nine-month tenors, priced competitively as follows:
The debut of the nine-month tenor marks a significant first for the IILM and represents a strategic expansion of its short-term suite of sukuk offering, providing Islamic financial institutions enhanced optionality in managing Shariah-compliant liquidity requirements.
With the issuance, the IILM’s outstanding short-term sukuk will reach a record high US$6.4 billion, representing another important milestone for the organization.
The auction attracted strong demand from the IILM’s network of primary dealers and a broad base of institutional investors across multiple jurisdictions, registering total bids of US$3.29 billion and a robust average bid-to-cover ratio of 2.44 times.
The introduction of the new nine-month tenor, says Mohamad Safri Shahul Hamid, the IILM’s CEO, fills a critical gap for institutions that require longer short-term placements aligned with the US dollar asset-backed commercial papers to better manage funding cycles, investment strategies and regulatory requirements. “Expanding our maturity spectrum further,” he adds, “strengthens our value proposition by offering investors a more calibrated and efficient liquidity management toolkit.”
Cross-border Islamic liquidity remains central to the IILM’s mandate, exceeding US$6.4 billion in outstanding sukuk, supported by the addition of a highly-rated asset, reflecting the deep trust that global institutions place in its framework, as well as the strength of its underlying asset pool.
“The continued growth of our asset base underscores our commitment to delivering high-quality Shariah-compliant liquidity solutions that are internationally relevant and operationally robust,” Safri points out. “We will continue to enhance the breadth and depth of our offerings to support a more integrated and resilient global Islamic finance ecosystem.”
The transaction marks the IILM’s 20th sukūk auction year-to-date, bringing its total issuances in 2025 to US$21.55 billion across 65 series of different tenors. This latest issuance is conducted under the IILM’s US$8.5 billion short-term sukuk issuance programme, which are rated A-1 by S&P Global Ratings and F1 by Fitch Ratings.
The IILM’s short-term sukuk is distributed by a diversified and growing network of primary dealers globally, namely Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank, Al Baraka Turk, Affin Islamic Bank, AlRayan Bank, Boubyan Bank, CIMB Islamic Bank, Dukhan Bank, First Abu Dhabi Bank, Golden Global Investment Bank, Kuwait Finance House, Kuwait International Bank, Maybank Islamic, Meethaq Islamic Banking from Bank Muscat, Qatar Islamic Bank and Standard Chartered.
