OREANDA-NEWS. June 06, 2011. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has awarded Russia’s NBD Bank with a “Trade Finance Import Deal of 2010” title for its participation in a transaction supporting a local vehicle component maker in the Nizhniy Novgorod region. The award was presented under the Trade Facilitation Programme at the EBRD’s Annual Meeting in Astana, reported the press-centre of EBRD.

In July 2010, NBD Bank issued a EUR 103,750 letter of credit for the import of construction machinery by Ruskomtrans, needed for the modernisation of the company’s manufacturing facilities and product range expansion. The transaction was supported with a guarantee from the EBRD through its Trade Facilitation Programme (TFP), which was confirmed and risk-shared by Commerzbank. Dutch development bank FMO and private market insurers led by ACE Global Markets also shared the EBRD’s risk.

Established in 1996 in the town of Balakhna, Ruskomtrans Ltd, employing over 100 workers, specialises in producing chassis and vehicle steel shells for various transportation needs.

“The Trade Finance Import Deal of 2010 award to NBD Bank is a perfect example of how the EBRD’s Trade Facilitation Programme is able to support local banks and their SME importers, especially as a majority of TFP transactions range from less than EUR 500,000 and many are for less than EUR 100,000,” said Rudolf Putz, Head of the TFP team.

“For the last 19 years, NBD Bank’s work has been aimed at the development of small and medium businesses in the Russian regions. The EBRD has been one of our strategically important partners for 17 years. With the EBRD’s support, we have financed over 20,000 projects in the micro, small and medium business development sector worth a total of over USD 150 million,” said Alexander Sharonov, Chairman of NBD Bank’s Management Board.

Alexey Shic, Executive Director of Ruskomtrans, said the transaction guaranteed by NBD Bank was an important part of its development programme. “The purchased plasma cutting and press brakes machines not only allowed us to optimize and modernize our production cycle, but also gave us the opportunity to create absolutely new models in our range of products which we are now able to offer to our clients,” Mr Shic said.

Launched in 1999, the Trade Facilitation Programme (TFP) aims to promote foreign trade to, from and among the EBRD countries of operations. It offers a range of products to facilitate this trade. Through the programme, the EBRD provides guarantees to international confirming banks and short-term loans to selected banks and factoring companies for on-lending to local exporters, importers and distributors.

The TFP currently has 100 issuing banks participating in the programme and has been joined by more than 700 confirming banks throughout the world, including 130 banks in 23 of the EBRD’s countries of operations.