Which 1982 crash in Kuwait involved an unregulated market for postdated checks?

The 1982 Kuwait crash involving an unregulated market for postdated checks was the Souk Al-Manakh crash.

Souk Al-Manakh was an informal Kuwaiti stock market operating alongside the official exchange. Speculators traded shares, including companies with weak or limited business foundations, and used postdated checks to finance transactions. This created large apparent wealth and extensive obligations.

When confidence broke, traders could not meet the checks they had issued. The collapse caused enormous losses relative to Kuwait’s economy and became one of the most dramatic financial market failures of the twentieth century.

The episode is distinct from a conventional exchange failure because much of the activity took place in an informal market. Kuwait’s government later intervened, and the crisis led to reforms of financial-market oversight.