Kenya Commercial Bank Joins IFC’s Global Trade Finance Program

IFC, the private sector arm of the World Bank Group, announced today that it will issue guarantees against Kenya Commercial Bank’s underlying trade transactions, covering payment risk and helping increase Kenya’s share of the global trade finance market.

The facility is part of IFC’s $1 billion Global Trade Finance Program, which was launched in 2005 to support trade with the emerging markets worldwide and promote flows of goods and services between developing countries. IFC provides guarantee coverage of bank risk in emerging markets, allowing recipients to expand their trade finance transactions within an extensive network of countries and banks and to enhance their trade finance coverage.

“IFC’s Global Trade Finance Program will increase our capacity, enabling us to take up more transactions. It will also help us develop pre-export financing products at a very competitive price,” said Martin Oduor-Otieno, Kenya Commercial Bank’s Chief Executive. “We see this as a first step in building a long-term partnership with IFC.”

“Increased trade in Africa is important to supporting economic growth and development,” said Edward Nassim, IFC Vice President for Africa, Europe, and the Middle East. “The Global Trade Finance Program has provided over $300 million worth of guarantees to facilitate trade in Africa in just over a year. This transaction will help increase Kenya Commercial Bank’s capacity to provide trade solutions to its clients and broaden its network of international trade banks.”

Earlier this month, Kenya Commercial Bank won the inaugural Africa Investor award for the best performing company in Africa. The award followed a year of outstanding performance by the bank on the Nairobi Stock Exchange.