Nurbank has signed an agreement to provide a credit line for trade financing from the International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (a subsidiary of the Islamic Development Bank).
As of today, Nurbank has begun utilizing the $5 million credit line from the International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC). The credit line is granted under a guarantee of performance obligations issued by JSC “Nurbank” in favor of ITFC.
Within this line, ITFC provides direct financing of the Bank's clients' import contracts for a period of up to 1 year.
It is important to note that there are no restrictions regarding the countries of the importers belonging to the Islamic world. Another significant advantage of this type of financing is its low cost. The payment instruments are documentary letter of credit or collection order.
“By signing this agreement, we hope that Islamic financing will become an alternative and most accessible source of financing for the Bank's clients' trade contracts,” emphasized Marat Zairov, Chairman of the Management Board of JSC “Nurbank.”
Previously, on April 9, in strict accordance with the established schedule, Nurbank repaid a $100 million syndicated loan, as well as the accrued interest.
The arrangers of the transaction were Deutsche Bank AG (Germany), Raiffeisen Zentralbank Bank (Austria), and UniCredit Group (Italy). The syndicate involved 13 banks, and the loan was attracted for 2 years at a rate of LIBOR +1.65% per annum.
Repayment of the syndicated loan is the only external obligation payment for Nurbank in 2009. The repayment was made using the bank's own funds, without refinancing or attracting additional borrowings, which confirms the stability and reliability of this financial institution.
As a result of the syndicated loan repayment, the share of external borrowings in Nurbank's funding structure decreased from 11% to 8%, which is one of the lowest indicators among Kazakh banks.
The remaining external borrowings consist of eurobonds amounting to $150 million, maturing in 2011.
Nurbank is among the top ten largest banks in Kazakhstan. According to the results of the audited consolidated financial statements as of January 1, 2009, the bank's assets amounted to 298.8 billion tenge compared to 198.7 billion tenge as of January 1, 2008, and the deposit base increased by 126.7 billion tenge during the year to reach 185.5 billion tenge.