Exim Bank forms strategic partnership with Al Rajhi

Adissadikin: ‘Our role is to support exports from Malaysia.’

Source From (The Star Online): http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2012/4/19/business/11132112&sec=business

Published: 19 April 2012

KUALA LUMPUR: The Export-Import Bank of Malaysia Bhd (Exim Bank) has entered into a strategic partnership with Al Rajhi Bank Malaysia to assist the country’s small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and corporations to expand overseas, particularly in the Middle East.
A memorandum of understanding signed by the two banks will provide services such as facility agency, security agency and other financing-related agency services for Exim Bank’s customers with businesses in member countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council and in other places where Al Rajhi Bank has a presence.
“Our role as Exim Bank is to support exports from Malaysia. Our exports can be goods or services. We will fund these projects. Banks are very calculative about risks, and we fill the gaps where the Malaysian banks can’t and where they are not present in,” managing director and chief executive officer Datuk Adissadikin Ali said after the signing ceremony.
“Commercial banks usually won’t fund some of these projects, such as construction projects in less developed countries without proper financing facilities and that is where Exim Bank comes in to fill in this financing gap,” he explained.
Al Rajhi Bank is well positioned to assist Exim Bank in its role of supporting Malaysian businesses intending to enter the Middle Eastern market, both companies said in a statement.
“The proposed collaboration with Exim Bank is in line with our strategy of leveraging on our vast Saudi network by delivering Al Rajhi Bank’s extensive reach to Malaysian businesses,” Al Rajhi’s wholesale banking chief Mudassir Amray said.
Exim Bank said that its loans portfolio today stood at slightly over RM6bil, of which 20% of its exposure was allocated to the Middle East and North African region.
“30%-40% of this exposure is in the construction industry,” Adissadikin said.