Pakistan’s Bank Al Habib has the joined the IFC’s global trade finance programme as an issuing bank. This move will help increase the availability of trade finance for local businesses in Pakistan and support import-export transactions.
K. Aftab Ahmed, IFC's regional manager for global financial markets for Middle East and North Africa, comments: “This partnership demonstrates our commitment to expand access to finance in Pakistan and specifically to SMEs.
“We have already supported our partner banks in Pakistan with more than US$220mn trade risk coverage during this fiscal year. Bank Al Habib is one of the leading trade finance banks in Pakistan and we hope this partnership would further support country’s trade flows.”
Zafar Amin, general manager and head of financial institutions and international division, Bank Al Habib, adds: “We are pleased to join the global trade finance programme and strongly feel that this partnership would support our trade finance business offering and enhance our relationship with correspondent banks worldwide, which would further enable us to meet the needs of our clients and help them increase their business in new markets around the globe.”
The IFC’s global trade finance programme supports trade with emerging markets worldwide and promotes the flow of goods and services between developing countries. IFC provides partial or full guarantees against underlying trade instruments and covers the payment risk of participating issuing banks. This allows issuing banks to expand their trade finance transactions within an extensive network of countries and banks to enhance their trade finance coverage.
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