NIB Bank Pakistan has joined IFC’s global trade finance programme (GTFP) as its 12th partner bank in Pakistan.

Shehzad Sharjeel, IFC regional head of trade, Middle East and North Africa tells GTR: “Under GTFP, IFC will support NIB Bank’s trade finance business by providing partial or full guarantees for individual trade transactions, which would support its client needs.”

“Also this would facilitate NIB Bank in establishing working partnerships with a vast number of major international and regional banks who are part of GTFP as partner confirming banks, and this in turn would help NIB Bank to scale-up access to finance and enhance its global reach,” he adds.

Currently IFC has more than 227 partner banks under the programme globally and has issued more than US$15bn in guarantees − US$1.4bn of which relate to trade obligations of GTFP partner banks in Pakistan.