The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Citi have partnered to sign a master risk participation agreement to enhance access to supply chain financing for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and support more than US$100 million in additional annual trade across Asia and the Pacific.

The agreement was signed between Citibank North America and ADB's Trade and Supply Chain Finance Programme (TSCFP), which provides support for letter of credit (L/C) business and a range of other supply chain finance offerings.

Long term collaboration

ADB and Citi have been collaborating on trade finance since 2009, facilitating US$6.2 billion worth of trade, expanding access to finance for SMEs, and contributing to the Asia Pacific region's resilience.

This new master risk participation agreement is expected to support more than US$100 million in additional trade in Asia and the Pacific each year.

Loans and guarantees

The TSCFP, provides loans and guarantees on L/Cs, discounting, trade loans and other instruments to more than 200 partner banks to support trade, thereby boosting imports and exports that foster growth.

Since 2009, the programme has supported US$57 billion in trade in more than 45,000 transactions in emerging markets, of which 60 per cent are SME-related.

This article represents the views of the author and not necessarily those of the ICC or Coastline Solutions.