PRESS RELEASE
The International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation Maintains Moody’s Flagship A1 Rating with Stable Outlook
ITFC’s transition to a more leveraged balance sheet was accompanied by enhancements to its liquidity risk-management policy in November 2018
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JEDDAH, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, October 19, 2022/ — Moody’s Investors Service issued its Credit Opinion on the International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC) (www.ITFC-IDB.org), a member of the Islamic Development Bank Group (IsDB), and reaffirmed the rating of A1 with stable outlook. The rating is supported by ITFC’s ‘Very large capital buffers’, ‘Robust liquidity, reflecting the self-liquidating nature of the financing portfolio’, ‘Prudent treasury investment practices’, ‘adequate liquidity management policies, and ‘Very high implicit member support’.
According to Moody’s, “ITFC’s transition to a more leveraged balance sheet was accompanied by enhancements to its liquidity risk-management policy in November 2018” and “Treasury asset management guidelines have equally been strengthened with maximum maturity and exposure caps per asset type”. Moody’s also stated, “ITFC’s NPE ratio decline was partly achieved through a strengthening of credit risk policies, including in response to legacy NPEs”.
Eng. Hani Salem Sonbol, ITFC Chief Executive Officer, said “We are very pleased that ITFC has maintained Moody’s A1 rating with stable outlook. The rating is a testament to the entire ITFC team who performed extremely well during the time of the global pandemic and the impact from the ongoing geopolitical challenges, ensuring that ITFC continued to deliver for OIC Member Countries during these challenging times. We remained flexible to meet the increasing financing requests from our member countries while delivering on ITFC’s mandate for ‘advancing trade, and improving lives. Going forward, ITFC is confident that we will continue to strengthen the foundations of global trade as the world economy faces rising challenges such as environmental concerns, high inflation, food security, and increasing energy costs.”
About the International Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC):
The International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC) is a member of the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) Group. It was established with the primary objective of advancing trade among OIC member countries, which would ultimately contribute to the overarching goal of improving the socio-economic conditions of the people across the world. Commencing operations in January 2008, ITFC has provided US$66 billion of financing to OIC member countries, making it the leading provider of trade solutions for these member countries’ needs. With a mission to become a catalyst for trade development for OIC member countries and beyond, the Corporation helps entities in member countries gain better access to trade finance and provides them with the necessary trade-related capacity-building tools, which would enable them to successfully compete in the global market.
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International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC)
