Posted by Reuters on
The U.S. Export-Import Bank has raised its credit facility to Nigeria's Intercontinental Bank Plc INBK.LG to $100 million from $27 million, the Lagos-based bank said on Thursday.
LAGOS, July 10 (Reuters) - The U.S. Export-Import Bank has raised its credit facility to Nigeria's Intercontinental Bank Plc INBK.LG to $100 million from $27 million, the Lagos-based bank said on Thursday.
Several Nigerian banks have obtained credit facilities from foreign financiers since the conclusion of sector reforms in 2005 that forced 89 mostly weak institutions to fuse into 24 stronger groups.
Ex-Im Bank said in June it raised its Nigerian bank facility to $1 billion from $405 million due to soaring demand for long-term financing for infrastructure and transport projects in the country.
Intercontinental is among about 14 banks benefiting from the facility, which previously allowed for quick processing of only short and medium-term insurance and guarantee transactions of U.S. imports to Africa's top oil producer.
Ex-Im Bank vice president for trade and insurance, Jeffery Abramson, said the increase was in recognition of Intercontinental's active facility utilisation and financial performance, the Nigerian bank said in a statement.
Its credit lines from international financial institutions were in excess of $400 million, including $40 million from the International Finance Corp, it said.
Intercontinental, whose foreign holders include venture capital firm Vectis Capital and South Africa's Rand Merchant Bank, is one of the Nigeria's top five banks by assets.
Last month it reported a 124 percent jump in aftertax profit to 34.7 billion naira ($295 million) for the year ended February on the back of strong asset growth.
The bank, which has about 300 branches in Nigeria and a unit in Ghana, was recently granted a licence by Britain's Financial Services Authority to operate as a full-fledged bank offering wholesale banking services in the United Kingdom.
The 74-year-old Ex-Im Bank is the official export-credit agency of the United States. It authorised more than $433.5 million to support export of U.S. goods and services to sub-Saharan Africa last year. (Reporting by Tume Ahemba; Editing by Nick Tattersall/Jeffrey Benkoe)