Afriland First Bank gets 8.2 billion funding from IFC

Afriland First Bank, the leader of the Cameroonian banking market, has signed an agreement fund of $15 million, equivalent to about 8.2 billion FCfa, with the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a subsidiary of the Group of the World Bank specialised in financing of the private sector.

The agreement was signed on July 30, 2015 in Douala, the economic capital of the country.

The Cameroonian banking institution specifically announced in an official statement that with this funding, "The IFC will make available guarantees for operations related to trade for better analysis of flows of importing and exporting firms by the corresponding banks to Afriland First Bank, thereby strengthening their competitiveness at the international".

"I want to assure you that Afriland First Bank, with the support of the IFC, puts at your disposal new financial instruments to help cope with harsh international competitiveness on equal terms with the players in the market from other countries or continents," said the administrative director general of Afriland First Bank, Alphonse Nafack, speaking to the economic operators and clients of the Bank invited at the ceremony in Douala.

538 billion CFA francs of loans granted on May 31, 2015

According to Allen Forlemu, the head of the Department of financial institutions for West Africa and CEMAC within the International Finance Corporation, this funding is provided through the program of financing of foreign trade implemented by the IFC and allowing "issuing banks to provide guarantees for more flexibility to import and export companies".

This financing agreement with the IFC comes after a funding agreement was signed between Afriland First Bank and the China Development Bank Corporation, for a total of 26.2 billion FCfa on June 17, 2015, in Beijing, China. This funding is intended to support small and medium-sized companies.

On May 31, 2015, Afriland First Bank boasts of a network of 38 branches in Cameroon and two presentations in France and China. Over the period, this main Cameroonian capital Bank, which is present in ten countries on the African continent, has officially injected a volume of credits which stands at 538 billion FCfa into the local economy while its deposits totaled 586 billion FCfa and a total stock of 758 billion FCfa.