The Financial Markets Division of the IDB’s Structured and Corporate Finance Department (SCF) announced the successful completion of six courses in three Central American countries within its initiative to provide trade finance training jointly to TFFP Issuing Banks and representatives of their small exporting or importing clients. The courses are part of a Technical Cooperation Project financed by the Trade and Poverty Trust Fund endowed with funds from the UK Department for International Development (DFID) and administered technically by the Integration and Trade Sector (INT) of the IDB.
The six courses held between September 20 and October 14, 2008 benefitted staff of TFFP Issuing Banks in Guatemala (Banco G&T Continental; Banco Agromercantil; Banco Industrial), Nicaragua (Banco de Crédito Centroamericano/Bancentro; Banco de Finanzas) and Panama (Banco Aliado), as well as representatives of the banks’ small client companies.
“These training courses complement and further enhance the impact and outreach of the TFFP, which is one of the products through which our Division supports the Central American financial sectors. Already 13 of our now 36 TFFP Issuing Banks are located in this region, and we are committed to further expand our Central American bank network going forward”, says Daniela Carrera, Chief of the Financial Markets Division of the IDB’s Structured and Corporate Finance Department.
By inviting especially smaller clients of TFFP Issuing Banks to attend the same trainings as the bank staff free of charge, the TFFP Trade Finance Initiative seeks to not only improve trade finance skills and capacities on both the bank and client sides, but also to promote business opportunities between TFFP Issuing Banks and small companies. The courses aim at strengthening their relationship, in order to identify possibilities for cooperation that enable the companies to further grow and create wealth and employment. By especially targeting small clients, this initiative enhances the market-deepening, pro-poor impact of the IDB Trade Finance Facilitation Program and reaches out to companies that tend to have less easy access to training opportunities than large corporations.
“As all courses were held locally at or close to the Issuing Banks themselves - in Guatemala City, Managua, Panama City and Colon - more than 270 people were able to attend this second round of training courses. We hope that these trade finance trainings give both our Issuing Banks and their clients more knowledge and tools that enable them to take maximum advantage of the opportunities to be found in the global markets”, says Ulrike Aulestia Vargas, IDB Trade Finance Officer and Project Team Leader of the training initiative. "We are happy about the very positive feedback received from the many participants, and look forward to reaching more banks and clients in the months to come", she adds.
Launched and rolled out in 2005, the TFFP is an effective tool for the IDB to support economic reactivation and growth through the expansion of financing available for international trade activities in Latin American and Caribbean countries. The TFFP currently consists of a network of 181 confirming banks belonging to 70 different international banking groups in over 44 countries, and 36 issuing banks in 14 Latin American and Caribbean countries, with $702 million in approved credit lines. To date, the IDB has issued guarantees for over $389 million in support of 495 individual international trade transactions totaling $540 million.
Trade and Poverty Trust Fund
The Trade and Poverty Trust Fund, financed by the UK Department for International Development (DFID), is intended t i) strengthen IDB capacity to assess the impact of trade and integration on poverty reduction; and, ii) support the adoption of pro-poor trade related strategies and policies in the countries of the region. "We are very glad that the Trade and Poverty Trust Fund is allowing different departments of the Bank to work together with regional clients with the goal of facilitating trade and expanding the opportunities it creates, particularly to smaller firms.", says Paolo Giordano, technical coordinator of the Trade and Poverty Trust Fund in the Integration and Trade Sector (INT) of the IDB.