The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and City Bank yesterday signed a $5 million loan agreement to support import and export financing for Bangladeshi businesses.

The Trade Finance Programme (TFP) of the ADB will provide trade loans under the deal to City Bank to on-lend to local firms, the Manila-based lender said in a statement.

“We are pleased to be growing the partnership with City Bank and to support more trade, which is directly linked to job creation and economic growth,” said Edward Faber, TFP relationship manager for Bangladesh.

“With ADB's backing, City Bank will be able to increase its financial support to local companies, including small and medium businesses,” Faber said. City Bank became a partner bank in ADB's TFP in early 2016 under the TFP's guarantee product. Since then, ADB and City Bank have worked on eight transactions together valued at $15 million.

“City Bank signed the Trade Finance Guarantee Facility agreement last year and our relationship with ADB has been stronger since then,” said Sohail RK Hussain, managing director of City Bank.

“As City Bank's vision is to be the financial supermarket, we believe that our participation in this revolving credit agreement will help us offer diversified and competitive trade finance products and services to our customers," he said.

The TFP has been operating in Bangladesh since 2005 and currently works with 14 local partner banks. To date, the programme has supported over 1,700 transactions, for almost $2.5 billion in trade in Bangladesh.

City Bank is one of the oldest private commercial banks in Bangladesh with total assets at about Tk 260 billion as of December 2016 and an extensive network of 120 branches all over Bangladesh.

The ADB TFP, backed by ADB's AAA credit rating, provides guarantees and loans to over 200 partner banks to support trade, enabling more companies throughout Asia to engage in import and export activities.