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Washington, D.C., June 22, 2009—
IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, announced that Banco ABC Brasil has joined its trade finance program, enabling the bank to improve access to trade finance for Brazilian importers and exporters and reduce the impact of the global financial crisis.
Banco ABC is the 10
th
Brazilian bank to join IFC’s Global Trade Finance Program, which promotes trade with emerging markets worldwide in a number of industries. IFC provides guarantees that help banks mitigate risks in emerging markets, allowing recipients to expand their trade-finance transactions within an extensive network of countries and banks.
“We are delighted to be a part of the IFC Global Trade Finance Program,” said Angela Martins, Director, International Division,
Banco ABC Brasil. “This new partnership with a respected multilateral provides an opportunity to broaden our funding alternatives with correspondent banks all over the world and to diversify our trade finance business.”
Atul Mehta, IFC Director for Latin America and the Caribbean, said: “ABC’s entry as the 10
th
Brazilian bank in the program will enhance and encourage trade operations in the country and help the bank improve its availability of trade lines in these times of global liquidity constraint.”
Under the Global Trade Finance Program, IFC has issued $1.38 billion in guarantees to facilitate trade flows in Latin America and the Caribbean. Over 40 percent of the guarantees issued benefited local small and medium businesses and supported interregional trade flows between emerging market nations.
For more information about the program, contact Antonio Alves, Head of Trade Finance for Latin America and the Caribbean Region, at
aalves1@ifc.org
, or visit
www.ifc.org/gtfp
.
About IFC
IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, creates opportunity for people to escape poverty and improve their lives. We foster sustainable economic growth in developing countries by supporting private sector development, mobilizing private capital, and providing advisory and risk mitigation services to businesses and governments. Our new investments totaled $16.2 billion in fiscal 2008, a 34 percent increase over the previous year. For more information, visit
www.ifc.org
.
About Banco ABC Brasil
Banco ABC Brasil is a financial institution specialized in extending credit to midsize and large companies. The bank is one of the few midsize Brazilian banks controlled by foreign shareholders with complete local autonomy. The controlling shareholder, the Arab Banking Corporation, is an international bank headquartered in Bahrain, having as main shareholders the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, the Kuwait Investment Authority and the Central Bank of Libya. For more information, visit
www.abcbrasil.com.br
.
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