Business & Money | Sunday 28 February, 2016 1:00 pm |

The International Islamic Trade Finance Cooperation (ITFC), a member of the Islamic Development Bank Group (IsDB), signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Attijariwafa Bank, a Moroccan Bank and one of the largest in Africa. The MoU will focus on opportunities for joint trade financing in Morocco and Africa in accordance with the Principles of Islamic Shariah.

 

The signing ceremony took place in line with the opening ceremony of the 4th International Forum for Africa Development, organized by Attijariwafa bank 25th & 26th Feb 2016 in Morocco.The MoU was signed by Eng. Hani Salem Sonbol, Acting CEO of ITFC and Mr. Mohamed El Kettani, Chairman and CEO of Attijariwafa bank.

 

The main objective of the MoU is to promote a long term and comprehensive relationship between ITFC and Attijariwafa bank in different areas that include bilateral treasury and interbank transactions for liquidity investment and borrowing foreign exchange. In addition, the cooperation will involve identifying opportunities for structured trade finance operations in Morocco and other markets. 

 

Commenting on the signing of the agreement, Eng. Hani Sonbol, said, “This signing is a set up for a strategic partnership and aims at developing unique trade finance solutions which serve the needs of our member countries in the region. It is ITFC’s mandate to seek partnerships to promote intra-trade among OIC Member countries and improve the livelihood of its people”. 

 

From his end, Mr. Mohamed El Kettani added that, “the signing of this MoU with ITFC reflects our mutual willingness to support Dar Safaa in its first steps in the Islamic Finance arena, and on the continental level, to spearhead the trade flows between Morocco and Sub Saharan Africa”.

 

It is worth mentioning that ITFC provided over US$2 billion in financing to support Morocco’s strategic sectors since its inception in 2008, specifically for the energy and steel industries.