OREANDA-NEWS. October 19, 2009. The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, is partnering with Raiffeisen International Bank-Holding AG, a member of the RZB Group headed by Raiffeisen Zentralbank Osterreich AG (RZB), to expand access to trade finance through its network banks in Russia, the Czech Republic and Bosnia and Herzegovina, helping support trade and lessen the impact of the global financial crisis.

The addition of these Raiffeisen International network banks to IFC’s Global Trade Finance Program is part of IFC’s broader activities under the Joint International Financial Institution Action Plan targeting Central and Eastern Europe. Launched in February 2009 by the three largest multilateral investors and lenders in the region—the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the European Investment Bank Group and the World Bank Group—the action plan aims to help private enterprises cope with the economic crisis by supporting local banking systems and increasing lending to small and medium-sized enterprises. Raiffeisen International's banking subsidiaries in Belarus, Kosovo, Poland, Slovakia and Ukraine already participate in the IFC program.

“We are pleased to have three additional Raiffeisen International network banks join IFC’s trade finance program,” said Herbert Stepic, CEO of Raiffeisen International. “This will further increase our capacity to provide trade facilities in the region, especially to small and medium-sized enterprises, and allow these three subsidiaries to gain access to the network of banks participating in the program.”

Jyrki Koskelo, IFC Vice President for Europe, Central Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Global Financial Markets and Funds, said: “Bringing Raiffeisen’s network banks into our trade program will help ease the crunch on trade financing in Central and Eastern Europe. We are pleased that our existing partnership with Raiffeisen is growing globally.”

IFC’s Global Trade Finance Program supports trade in emerging markets by providing partial or full guarantees for individual transactions, using payment risk guarantees to international banks that issue financing to the local banks. The program helps banks boost their capacity for delivering trade finance in challenging markets where such financing may be limited. Since being launched in 2005, the program has issued USD 3 billion in guarantees worldwide through a network of more than 300 participating banks.