APICORP in trade finance services pact with JPMorgan

Arab Petroleum Investments Corporation (APICORP), the multilateral development bank owned by the member states of the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC), announced the signing of a trade finance services agreement with JPMorgan Treasury Services.
This enables APICORP to significantly expand its range of trade finance services to energy companies.
APICORP will offer a complete range of trade finance products and services to its clients, including letters of credit, collections and guarantees.
The government of Saudi Arabia owns a 17 percent stake in APICORP.
“We are pleased to announce another major milestone in APICORP’s bid to diversify business streams and grow the bank for the benefit of the Arab world’s energy sector,” said Ahmad bin Hamad Al-Nuaimi, chief executive and general manager of APICORP.
“This announcement has been preceded by extensive efforts with JPMorgan to set up a highly reliable service that can be increased in scale to meet rising demand.”
Under the trade finance services agreement, JPMorgan will provide APICORP with trade finance processing support, including Internet-based technology, and access to trade finance services from a global network of branches.
“APICORP will initiate transactions and interface with customers as well as make final credit approval decisions,” said Al-Nuaimi.
“Of the financial institutions that were considered for this alliance, we felt JPMorgan is the most suited partner, recognized for its expertise, wide banking network, and trade processing capability.”
Mark Garvin, chairman of JPMorgan Treasury and Securities Services International, said: “JPMorgan’s collaboration with APICORP, to meet trade finance demand from the multilateral development bank’s clients in the Middle East, has resulted in much needed additional liquidity in the global trade finance markets. This mandate is testimony to JPMorgan’s ongoing commitment to the region and strong local market knowledge, coupled with our global expertise in trade finance, which enables us to meet the cross-border trade finance needs of clients such as APICORP.”