Moscow, Russia, June 17, 2010
—IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, is providing a $50 million guarantee facility to Promsvyazbank, a leader of trade financing in Russia, to expand access to trade finance for Russian companies.
The facility, offered through the Global Trade Finance Program, is IFC’s first investment in Promsvyazbank. The investment will allow the bank to expand trade finance operations and provide enhanced trade finance solutions for import and export clients.
“We are pleased to cooperate with IFC in one of our strategic areas,” said Alexander Levkovskiy, President of Promsvyazbank. “The IFC Global Trade Finance Program will expand our capacity to finance our customers’ foreign trade transactions and increase our international contacts through its global network of participating partner banks.”
Rashad Kaldany, IFC Vice President for Asia, Eastern Europe, Middle East and North Africa, said, “Trade finance helps expand trade ties between companies and countries. By working with strong market players such as Promsvyazbank, we can reach more small and midsize companies and contribute to economic development in Russia’s remote regions.”
IFC’s Global Trade Finance Program supports trade in emerging markets worldwide by providing trade risk mitigation and trade advisory services. The program extends the capacity of banks to deliver trade finance services in challenging markets where interbank facilities may be limited. Through the program, IFC helps developing countries increase their share of global trade flows and promotes the movement of goods and services between major emerging market economies such as Russia and its neighbors.
Since the program was established in 2005, IFC has provided more than $7.1 billion in guarantees, supporting over 5,500 trade transactions into and between emerging markets through a network of more than 360 participating partner banks.
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 capital for private enterprise, and providing advisory and risk mitigation services to businesses and governments. Our new investments totaled $14.5 billion in fiscal 2009, helping channel capital into developing countries during the financial crisis. For more information, visit
www.ifc.org
.
About Promsvyazbank
Promsvyazbank is one of Russia’s leading privately owned banks, successfully operating since 1995. As of January 1, 2010, it ranked 10
th
by assets among Russian banks, according to the Interfax information agency. PSB is also one of Russia’s largest and most active players in trade finance. The bank was awarded the title of “Best Bank in Trade Finance in Emerging Europe for 2008” by Euromoney magazine. For more information, visit
www.psbank.ru
.
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