Afreximbank, FCI to Promote Factoring to East African SMEs

Categories: Press Releases

Cairo, 24 Feb. 2020: – The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), in collaboration with FCI, will hold a two-day conference in Nairobi to promote the use of factoring to enhance access to financing for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in East Africa.

The Regional Conference on Factoring and Receivables Finance is scheduled to take place on 27 and 28 February and is expected to attract about 120 senior executives from factoring companies, banks and non-bank financial institutions, government agencies, consulting firms and IT providers.

They will be joined by regulators, lawyers and insurers for the sharing of best practices in regulatory and legal regimes, innovation and credit insurance services that can facilitate the growth of factoring in support of SMEs.

According to information from Afreximbank and FCI, factoring can provide more financing to SMEs than traditional lending channels if the knowledge and capability are developed and shared.

The Conference is aimed at creating awareness, building capacity and providing opportunities for networking in the factoring industry. It will feature presentations, panel discussions and success stories and will allow attendees to discuss the current state and challenges of the factoring industry. Discussions will also cover products and market development.

Promoting Intra-African Trade and facilitating Industrialization and Export Development are key pillars of Afreximbank’s current strategy. We believe that factoring will support their implementation capacity in the context of the untapped opportunities. Factoring provides a solution to address the challenge of access to financing for African SMEs. Afreximbank will continue to play a leading role in facilitating the growth of factoring in Africa especially in creating awareness and building requisite capacity.

Kanayo Awani, Managing Director, Intra-African Trade Initiative, Afreximbank.

It is generally recognised that Africa presents some of the most exciting global opportunities for economic development and expansion. Factoring is capable of providing support for future success in both funding SMEs and inter-African trade. FCI’s Africa Chapter is in place to help guide this expansion and develop the necessary skills in market to drive growth at the regional level.

Peter Mulroy, FCI Secretary General

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Media Contact:

Afreximbank: Amadou Labba Sall (asall@afreximbank.com; Tel. +202-2456-4085)

FCI: Gwendoline de Viron (deviron@fci.nl; Tel. +32 478 98 43 34)

 

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About Afreximbank: The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) is the foremost pan-African multilateral financial institution devoted to financing and promoting intra- and extra-African trade. The Bank was established in October 1993 by African governments, African private and institutional investors, and non-African investors. Its two basic constitutive documents are the Establishment Agreement, which gives it the status of an international organization, and the Charter, which governs its corporate structure and operations. Since 1994, it has approved more than $67 billion in credit facilities for African businesses, including $7.2 billion in 2018. Afreximbank had total assets of $13.4 billion as at 31 December 2018. It is rated A- (GCR), Baa1 (Moody’s), and BBB- (Fitch). The Bank is headquartered in Cairo. For more information, visit: www.afreximbank.com

 

About FCI: FCI was set up in 1968 as an umbrella organisation for independent factoring companies around the world. Today, FCI has grown into the world’s representative factoring network and association with close to 400 members in 90 countries with member transactions representing nearly 90% of the world’s international correspondent factoring volume. Today, FCI is truly the global representative body for the Factoring & Receivables Finance Industry.