Nairobi, Dec. 7, 2016… The Eastern and Southern African Trade and Development Bank, commonly known as PTA Bank, has changed its official brand name to TDB (Trade and Development Bank).
The leading regional multilateral Development Finance Institution (DFI), which has been in operation for just over three decades, has also announced that it will continue to increase financing for priority sectors such as infrastructure, manufacturing, industry and agribusiness across the 20 member states it operates in, over the next five years.
“Our rebranding represents our rejuvenation and renewed commitment to innovate and play a more active role in promoting trade, economic development and regional integration, at a crucial time when the region is looking to more vigorously advance economic transformation and ratchet up the tapering growth” said Admassu Tadesse, President and Chief Executive of the Trade and Development Bank.
Mr. Tadesse further stated, “In recent years, we have been giving a big boost to our financing of trade, enterprise and infrastructure, which is evidenced in the tripling of our loan assets in the past five years. We have made substantial contributions to the rising economic growth and infrastructure development in the region, in line with regional and international development strategies.
We have funded several landmark renewable energy projects such as Turkana Wind Power in Kenya, Hydromax Minihydro in Uganda, and industrial projects such as cement and steel plants in DR Congo, Djibouti, Zambia, Rwanda, Ethiopia and Zimbabwe. Other landmark projects funded including the Burundi Fibre Optic Backbone Project and Kilwa Power in Tanzania. We will continue scaling up, with continued attention to sustainability and good corporate governance.”
The rebranding follows several years of improved asset quality, healthy profitability and innovation, on the back of a series of institutional reforms aimed at strengthening and modernizing the Bank.
“We have dramatically increased our capacity to meet the rising demand for the Bank’s products and services, thanks to the strong funding partnerships we have built up with long term funders and investors. Our shareholder base has increased by more than 50% in recent years, with several new institutional investors and Member States. Indeed, our equity capital has tripled since we embarked on the current corporate plan in 2012,” added Mary Kamari, Director of Corporate Affairs and Investor Relations.
The Trade and Development Bank will continue to support independent power and transport projects, as well as agribusiness, and industry, alongside trade financing of essential commodities such as fertilizer, equipment, agricultural commodities and petroleum. Trade finance is typically provided on a structured basis, with emphasis on self-liquidation mechanisms, term lending is done mostly on a balance sheet, and at times on a project basis, with tenors ranging up to three years for trade related financing, and up to 15 years for infrastructure projects.
The Bank has also financed numerous agribusiness projects throughout eastern and southern Africa, notably Malawi and Sudan, and provided important asset finance facilities to the air-transport sector in the region, with Rwanda Air, Kenya Airways and Ethiopian Airlines benefitting.