RIYADH, Nov. – The Saudi Export-Import Bank (Saudi EXIM) concluded its participation in the 9th Annual Saudi Trade Finance Summit on Tuesday.
Held under the banner Resilience in Trade, Supply Chain, and Treasury Management, the summit brought together influential partners, decision makers, and top officials at pertinent government agencies, such as Saudi credit score purveyor Simah and the Zakat, Tax and Customs Authority, along with the leaders of major Saudi corporations, commercial banks, and financial institutions.
Over the summit’s two days, attendees discussed methodologies to strategically grow the domestic economy and collaborative efforts to develop the trade finance sector to become a driver of the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 targets.
In an address on the opening day of the summit, Saad bin Abdulaziz Alkhalb, the Chief Executive Officer of Saudi EXIM, expressed his happiness to be among partners, decision makers and leaders of public and private financial institutions at a summit that represents a major platform where they can discuss the future of trade finance and work with experts and influencers to help the sector adapt to the major upheavals in global trade.
He also pointed to the bank’s role as an enabler of the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 non-petroleum targets, as non-petroleum exports continue to make up a larger portion of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP.)
Alkhalb highlighted the bank’s efforts to provide financing and credit solutions and offer ample collateralization to local banks so they may help make Saudi products more competitive for export, either through direct support or through partners.
He pointed out that Saudi EXIM is particularly keen on supporting small and medium businesses (SMBs,) facilitating export operations, and helping investors operate in several countries.
Saudi EXIM, he added, has been making agreements and signing memoranda of understanding with major financial corporations to enable local and international banks to support exports with credit lines and other solutions. These efforts are aimed at assisting the bank’s role in plugging deficiencies in non-petroleum Saudi exports, reliant on huge cash reserves and multiple capabilities. So far, the bank has been able to approve financing requests worth SAR8.95 billion for local banks, with 51 percent of that being allocated to SMBs. This, he stressed, manifests the bank’s interest in helping emerging sectors flourish and making Saudi trade more attractive to alternative investments.
Dr. Naif Alshammari, the Chief Business Officer of Saudi EXIM, detailed the range of direct and indirect finance services the bank offers to supply chains, which include credit facilities, letters of credit, and solutions for international projects, among many other services that made the bank a key enabler to help develop non-petroleum exports. He also highlighted the bank’s efforts to make agreements with local and foreign financial institutions, such as reinsurers, international credit organizations and collateralization companies to take advantage of their experience in providing credit solutions for Saudi exporters.
On the sidelines of the summit, Saudi EXIM signed a number of agreements and MoUs with the Saudi British Bank, Jordan’s Capital Bank, and the National Bank of Iraq. The total value of these agreements amounted to $55 million to support importers of Saudi products and services to the Jordanian and Iraqi markets. Earlier, Saudi EXIM signed two other agreements with the Compagnie Française d'Assurance pour le Commerce Extérieur (Coface,) a French credit insurer that operates worldwide, and Bpifrance Assurance Export, the French export credit agency. The two agreements aim to facilitate additional credit lines and apply best practices in credit insurance and trade lending.
