National Bank of Fujairah (NBF) is eyeing the possibility of opening trade finance offices in Africa as part of an overseas expansion plan for the bank based in one of the UAE's smaller emirates.

Last month, NBF announced it had reached an agreement to set up shop in Hong Kong with trade specialist Wells Fargo. Under the agreement, letters of credit (L/Cs) for trade with China will become more easily available to NBF customers (DC World News, 19 September 2013).

Trade deals

According to the Reuters news agency, NBF's chief executive Vince Cook says the bank will look to open similar offices in Africa to process trade deals and facilitate L/C business.

The UAE's non-oil foreign trade is growing rapidly, particularly with Asia and Africa, and Cook says NBF is looking to develop business in the marine, oil and gas and precious metals sectors that will help develop the bank's trade finance business."

Strategic advantage

With a developing port on the Indian Ocean, the emirate became strategically more important to the UAE last year when an oil pipeline capable of carrying 1.8 million barrels a day from Abu Dhabi to Fujairah opened.

This makes Fujairah the only UAE port that allows Abu Dhabi's oil exports to bypass the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran at times has threatened to block.

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