The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, has extended a USD 20 million trade credit line to Romanian lender UniCredit Tiriac Bank. This will help boost additional financing to the bank’s clients working in import and export in Romania and also to increase economic growth, reads an IFC statement.

With the credit line from IFC, the Romanian lender will increase its product offerings and financial support for corporate customers in Romania engaged in international trade.

“This credit line will significantly improve our capacity to support the trade activities of our existing and future customers,” said Rasvan Radu, UniCredit Tiriac Bank CEO.

The USD 20 million trade line is a continuation of the cooperation between IFC and the Romanian lender. In July last year, IFC extended a USD 39 million loan to UniCredit Tiriac Bank to support the development of small and medium-sized companies.

UniCredit Tiriac Bank is the fifth local bank to join the IFC’s Global Trade Finance Program (GTFP), which promotes trade in emerging markets by providing partial or full guarantees for individual trade transactions backed by IFC’s triple-A rating.

IFC invested in UniCredit Tiriac Bank’s local currency bond in June 2013, alongside over 30 local and international institutional investors. The over-subscribed RON 550 million (or some USD 159 million) bond issue was a part of a program aiming to diversify the lender’s financial sources and was the largest local currency bond issued to date on the Bucharest Stock Exchange BVB.

IFC was the largest investor with RON 125 million (USD 36 million).

UniCredit Tiriac Bank, part of UniCredit Group, ended the first half of 2013 with a net profit of EUR 46.2 million, up 177 percent over the same period in the previous year.

The lender’s revenues also went up 17 percent in the first six months of the year, reaching the total value of EUR 157.9 million, mainly due to higher income from commissions, generated by increasing volumes, and earnings from trading operations.

Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com