"BFA has extended its partnership with the African Export Import Bank - Afreximbank, becoming its first trade finance intermediate (TFI), i.e. its first agent in Angola," says a statement published on the bank's website.
With this partnership, BFA will become part of Afreximbank's business ecosystem, meaning that the bank will have "access to a set of digital solutions and very structuring information sharing platforms".
BFA explains that it will benefit from the "clearing and settlement payment system in national currencies, which will reduce the need for foreign currency" and that it will be connected to a "computer platform for accessing and sharing information about African companies and investment opportunities" on the continent.
The strengthening of the partnership is part of a "strategy of cooperation between the two institutions and illustrates their commitment and engagement in the search for solutions that support the development of the Angolan economy and its economic agents, in particular, and promote free trade in Africa," the bank said.
The note also states that Afreximbank considers that TFI's play a relevant role in the development of "its business strategy" as they are "an important channel through which the bank makes its services and credit lines available to African exporters and importers in the markets where it operates".
BFA also recalls that it signed an agreement with the African bank for the opening of a credit line of 50 million dollars in 2019. This line was to finance "trade inside and outside" the continent. This year, according to the statement, the line of credit "was renewed for the amount of 35 million dollars."
Recall that two years ago, the BFA was the first banking institution in the country to sign an agreement with the Afreximbank Trade Facilitation Programme (AFTRAF), aimed at "promoting free trade in Africa through the provision, at a competitive cost, of credit lines associated with trade finance operations to Angolan companies that import and export goods and services.
