Cairo, 26 March 2024: – The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) has bid farewell to Peter Mulroy, the long serving Secretary General of FCI who has piloted the affairs of the global factoring body for the past 11 years, commending him for making Africa a priority by connecting the continent to the global factoring community.
In a farewell message at the recently concluded FCI Executive Committee and Global Factoring Summit organised by FCI and India Exim in Mumbai, India, Kanayo Awani, Executive Vice-President, Intra-African Trade Bank at Afreximbank and Chairperson of the FCI Africa Chapter, said that Mr. Mulroy’s support was pivotal in creating awareness and sharing knowledge about factoring at various conferences around Africa.
Mrs. Awani, who is also a member of the FCI Executive Committee, commended the commitment shown by Mr. Mulroy for the promotion and growth of factoring in Africa through capacity building events and for his support for the establishment of an enabling legal and regulatory environment through advocacy initiatives, particularly towards the adoption of factoring laws and regulation in Egypt, Congo, Togo, Niger, Cote d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso and Mali, among others.
According to her, Mr. Mulroy is leaving a lasting legacy and the impact of his influence in Africa’s factoring landscape will continue to be felt.
Mrs. Awani, who used the opportunity to welcome incoming Secretary General Neal Harm, said that the Afreximbank team looked forward to working with him to further expand FCI’s intervention in Africa by building on the achievements thus far.
Also commending the outgoing Secretary General on his achievements were Çağatay Baydar, Chairman of FCI, and Mr. Harm, the incoming Secretary General, both of who commended Mr. Mulroy for his hard work, dedication and commitment to the association.
In his response, Mr. Mulroy thanked the members of the executive committee for their support and shared memories of his work with Afreximbank in ensuring that factoring gained prominence in Africa as an alternative financial instrument to support small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). He commended the Bank for playing a central and key role in the milestones achieved in the factoring industry in Africa.
Over the years, key factoring metrics in Africa have been trending upwards, with the number of African members of FCI reaching 46 in 2023, compared to 37 in 2019, and with over US$60 million in factoring lines of credit approved by Afreximbank during the same period and over US$30 million disbursed. These have culminated in Africa’s factoring volume growing from EUR21 billion in 2017 to EUR41 billion in 2022.
Afreximbank, together with its strategic partners, have been at the forefront in providing financing, advocacy and support in improving the legal and regulatory environment for factoring to thrive in Africa, creating awareness and strengthening technical capacity while providing various services for factoring companies.
In addition, Afreximbank, in collaboration with FCI, is working to develop a payment repository to directly support the accelerated growth of factoring as an alternative financing tool for SMEs in Africa through increased access to trade credit insurance. The payment repository will provide a platform where trade payables data can be stored and exchanged in order to avail credit insurers with necessary information for offering factors the option to establish insured credit limits on themselves based on payment experience. A successful repository is expected to be a game changer for credit underwriting in the factoring industry in Africa.
ENDS
Media Contact:
Vincent Musumba
Manager, Communications and Events (Media Relations)
Email: press@afreximbank.com
Tel: +20 2 24564100 /1/2/3
Mobile: +201030121123
About Afreximbank
African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) is a Pan-African multilateral financial institution mandated to finance and promote intra-and extra-African trade. For 30 years, the Bank has been deploying innovative structures to deliver financing solutions that support the transformation of the structure of Africa’s trade, accelerating industrialization and intra-regional trade, thereby boosting economic expansion in Africa. A stalwart supporter of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA), Afreximbank has launched a Pan-African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS) that was adopted by the African Union (AU) as the payment and settlement platform to underpin the implementation of the AfCFTA. Working with the AfCFTA Secretariat and the AU, the Bank is setting up a US$10 billion Adjustment Fund to support countries to effectively participate in the AfCFTA. At the end of September 2023, Afreximbank’s total assets and guarantees stood at over US$33.4 billion, and its shareholder funds amounted to US$5.8 billion. The Bank disbursed more than US$104 billion between 2016 and 2023. Afreximbank has investment grade ratings assigned by GCR (international scale) (A), Moody’s (Baa1), Japan Credit Rating Agency (JCR) (A-) and Fitch (BBB). Afreximbank has evolved into a group entity comprising the Bank, its impact fund subsidiary called the Fund for Export Development Africa (FEDA), and its insurance management subsidiary, AfrexInsure, (together, “the Group”). The Bank is headquartered in Cairo, Egypt.