Coris Bank Cote d’Ivoire has secured a €19-million ($19.4 million) guarantee from French financier Proparco. The funds will be used to assist SMEs in Cote d’Ivoire that need greater capital to import commodities as the government seeks to boost the country’s involvement in international trade.
Coris Bank Cote d’Ivoire is a wholly owned subsidiary of Coris Bank International, a banking corporation established in Burkina Faso and run by Burkinabe banking tycoon Idrissa Nassa.
Coris Bank obtained the $19.4-million credit line from Proparco under the French financier’s trade finance program. It will be used to support enterprises that import essential goods, industrial equipment, commodities, and agricultural products.
The news comes as Coris Bank seeks to support the government’s efforts to increase the country’s involvement in international trade, while also growing and developing the Ivorian private sector.
The multimillion-dollar loan comes about one month after Coris Bank secured a €500-million ($526.8 million) trade financing line with the African Export-Import Bank, a pan-African multilateral trade finance institution.
The $526.8-million trade finance line will be used to finance the delivery of basic requirements and consumer products to benefit the populations of the nine countries represented by the bank in line with the terms of the strategic partnership deal with the pan-African multilateral institution.
Coris Bank International is a financial services organization headquartered in Burkina Faso with activities throughout Francophone Africa.
The group operates through subsidiaries in Cote d’Ivoire, Mali, Togo, Senegal, Benin, Niger, and Guinea-Bissau, in addition to its home country of Burkina Faso.
Coris Bank’s market capitalization has fallen below $450 million for the first time since September 2021 because of a double-digit loss in the market value of its shares.
Due to the recent price drop, the group’s market capitalization has dropped by about $100 million in just 162 days, from CFA351.84 billion ($547.41 million) on Feb. 17 to CFA287.84 billion ($447.84 million).
