Aiming to support international trade in certain countries, mainly in emerging markets, supranational development banks – such as the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD, London), the Asian Development Bank (ADB, Manila), the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB, Washington) and the International Finance Cooperation (IFC, Washington) – have set up special Trade Facilitation Programs.
Commerzbank has been cooperating with all important development banks in the Financial Institutions area for many years. The Trade Facilitation Programme primarily supports small and medium businesses in their worldwide trading activities.
The programmes usually follow a certain pattern: First, in a thorough examination, the development banks choose banks from the participating countries, which are considered as eligible. Afterwards, these banks are provided with credit lines by the development banks corresponding to their support programs. Additionally, on the export side, so called affirmative banks have been appointed to receive guarantees from the development banks in the context of the Trade Facilitation Programmes, which serve as securities for risk relief in case of confirmed letters of credit. Commerzbank has been appointed as such an affirmative bank.
