BSTDB Signs its First Trade Finance Facility in Greece
Press Release | 23-Nov-2017
The Black Sea Trade and Development Bank (BSTDB) starts its trade finance program in Greece with a EUR 10 million revolving Trade Finance Facility provided to the Greek Aegean Baltic Bank (ABBank). ABBank will use the Facility to finance trade transactions of its clients who import goods from BSTDB member countries or export goods worldwide. The Facility aims to support trade transactions among BSTDB’s member countries and specifically, trade in oil products among Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Greece, Romania, and Russia.
The facility has a repayment period of up to 360 days and will be revolving and committed.
“We are happy to expand BSTDB’s fast growing support for the Greek economy by extending our Trade Finance Program to the country. Our very first loan to a Greek bank symbolically goes to the Aegean Baltic Bank, a shipping bank financing trade transactions in our Black Sea region. Working with ABBank under the Trade Finance Facility is in line with our strategic objectives to help strengthening the Greek financial sector and to support the country’s exporting businesses bringing revenues to the economy and state budget. Importantly, the operation will also help increase regional trade, which is one of our priorities as a regional development bank” said BSTDB President Ihsan Ugur Delikanli.
“ABBank is honoured to be the first Greek bank cooperating with BSTDB in Trade Finance. We are particularly happy to expand our traditional shipfinance activities by financing import and export trade in the Black Sea region. We believe this is a much needed and much promising new activity for ABBank and its expanding clientele” said Theodore Afthonides, CEO of ABBank.
Since the beginning of its operations in Greece, BSTDB has approved financing for 24 projects in the country to the total amount of EUR 480 million. Over the past two years, the Bank has considerably increased its financing in Greece, bringing the country’s portfolio from the 10th to the 2nd place among its eleven member countries. In 2017, BSTDB has signed new loan agreements in Greece for over EUR 122 million. More information on BSTDB operations in Greece is available at http://www.bstdb.org/countries/greece.
* * * * * * * * * * *
Aegean Baltic Bank (ABBank) is a private Greek shipping bank established in 2002, operating under the regulatory supervision of the Central Bank of Greece and the Eurosystem (ESM). Despite being incorporated in Greece, ABBank has continued to be successful throughout the crisis maintaining an extremely strong capital adequacy. The Bank has been the largest arranger and agent/manager of syndicated shipping loans amongst Greek Banks and 5th amongst all banks active in the Greek ship-financing scene having arranged in excess of $5.0 billion syndicated and bilateral facilities together with more than 15 banks worldwide. ABBank operates through its head office at Maroussi and two branches located in Piraeus and Glyfada (Athens). More information on ABBank is available at https://aegeanbalticbank.com.
The Black Sea Trade and Development Bank (BSTDB) is an international financial institution established by Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia, Greece, Moldova, Romania, Russia, Türkiye, and Ukraine. The BSTDB headquarters are in Thessaloniki, Greece. BSTDB supports economic development and regional cooperation by providing loans, credit lines, equity and guarantees for projects and trade financing in the public and private sectors in its member countries. The authorized capital of the Bank is EUR 3.45 billion. BSTDB is rated long-term “A-” by Standard and Poor’s and “A2” by Moody’s. For information on BSTDB, visit www.bstdb.org.
Press contact:
Haroula Christodoulou
Phone: +30 2310 290533
E-mail: cchristodoulou@bstdb.org