Qatar's Barwa Bank has listed a $2 billion Islamic bonds programme on the Irish Stock Exchange, taking the lender a step closer to tapping the sukuk market for the first time.

Rating agencies Moody's and Fitch assigned ratings of A2 and A+ respectively to the sukuk programme, Barwa Bank said in a statement to Reuters, without specifying a timeframe or size for its potential debut deal.

Several Gulf lenders have taped the sukuk market this year, with Qatar Islamic Bank raising $750 million in October.

Barwa is classified as a systemically important bank, with 53 percent of its share capital owned by the Qatari government through Qatari Holding LLC and other government funds.

Barwa's sukuk programme uses an agency-based structure known as wakala, where a portfolio of sharia-compliant assets is managed on behalf of sukuk certificate holders. The transaction is being arranged by Citigroup, the prospectus said.