Erastus Akingbola, OON

Despite the global credit crunch which has impacted on the ability of foreign financial institutions to sustain their resource inflow to Nigerian economy, Intercontinental Bank Plc appears to be enjoying the confidence of foreign financial institutions as the European Investment Bank (EIB) disburses another €50m (US$66million) Developmental funds to the bank for education and health sectors of the Nigerian economy.The new disbursement was coming shortly after the Export Import Bank of the United States expanded its credit lines to Nigerian businesses through Intercontinental Bank from US$27million to US$100million.

The EIB, based in Luxembourg, Holland, is a long-term lending bank of the European Union and its mandate is to contribute towards the integration, balanced development and economic and social cohesion of the European Union member states.

The EIB funds will be disbursed to small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) under the Intercontinental Bank’s special product scheme tagged -I-CARE.

Under the I-Care product, Intercontinental intends to tailor the cheap and easy access to financial support to existing and new educational and healthcare delivery institutions in the country, with attractive tenor to be utilized in re-financing existing projects. The tenor of the facility is between two and seven years, while the facility contributory structure is 50 per cent each by the bank and the borrower.

After the concluded recapitalization exercise of the Nigerian banking industry, EIB signed on two banks including Intercontinental as financial intermediaries given its pedigree and yield in the Nigerian market.

Sources close to some of the foreign banks say that though they have reduced the volume of resources available to Nigerian institutions a few banks have been considered for continuous deployment of their funds given their pedigree and yield in the Nigerian market which is more impressive than developed markets.

Intercontinental Bank is one of the US Ex-Im Bank’s most active Nigerian partners. The bank was one of the first among the select member banks to benefit from the US$300million facility approved for Nigerian banks in 2006 by the Ex-Im Bank.

Financial analysts said the increasing attraction of Intercontinental Bank to international fund managers, investors and multi-lateral institutions may not be unconnected with the bank’s stellar performance and impressive ratings. Last year the bank was rated highly by two global rating agencies, Fitch Ratings and Standard & Poor’s.

At the 2008 edition of African Banker Awards in Washington DC, USA, Intercontinental Bank Plc was named “African Bank of The Year”. The award which is promoted by African Banker Magazine in partnership with the Corporate Council of Africa and Business in Africa Events was instituted last year to recognize the reforms, rapid modernization, consolidation, integration and expansion of the African banking industry.

Also in Washington DC, the Bank was named the “2008 Financial Brand of the Year”, by the World Bank/IMF Annual Meeting Daily, while The Banker Magazine, a subsidiary of the Financial Times of London declared it “Bank of The Year (Nigeria) 2008”

Intercontinental Bank Plc financial results for the half year ended August 31, 2008 saw gross earnings rising to N121billion, representing a growth of over 99 per cent as against the N60.9billion achieved in the corresponding period of 2007.

The result which was made available to the Nigerian Stock Exchange Thursday saw the bank’s profit before tax soaring to N24billion, an increase of 63 per cent from N14.7 billion in the previous year.
Profit after tax also recorded a huge leap to N18.7billion, representing a growth of 66 per cent from N11.3 billion, in the preceding year.