July 4 (SeeNews) - The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) said on Thursday it is providing Moldovan lenders Agroindbank and Victoriabank with two trade finance lines worth $13 million (11.4 million euro).
Under the EBRD’s Trade Facilitation Programme, Moldova Agroindbank and Victoriabank will benefit from trade finance limits worth $8 million and $5 million, respectively, EBRD said in a press release.
Through this facility, the EBRD will issue guarantees in favour of international commercial banks covering the political and commercial payment risk of the transactions undertaken by the two Moldovan banks, and will provide financing for pre-export and import transactions. The banks will also benefit from the EBRD’s technical cooperation projects in trade finance.
The EBRD said it has recently unlocked financing to Moldova Agroindbank and Victoriabank following steps by the two lenders to achieve transparency of ownership and to restore corporate governance. In April, EBRD provided loans worth 5 million euro each through the EU4Business-EBRD credit line. The financing, aimed to help Moldovan companies’ trade with the European Union, was accompanied by EU grant-based funding as part of the EU4Business initiative.
The EBRD’s Trade Facilitation Programme currently includes over 100 partner banks in 29 countries where the bank invests, with limits exceeding 1.5 billion euro in total, and more than 800 confirming banks worldwide.
Moldova Agroindbank has a network of 66 branches and 118 agencies. The bank serves about 1 million customers - individuals, SMEs and corporations.
Victoriabank has over 620,000 customers, 100 branches and 1,300 employees.
($=0.8862 euro)
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