It gives my Bank great pleasure and honour to partner with the World Bank Institute, FIMBank of Malta, Nigerian Export Promotion Council and Psicron Consulting to host this National Conference on “Trade, Cash and Finance: Making Forfating and Factoring Work For You”. The Conference seeks among others to increase stakeholders’ awareness on exports factors and forfeiters, improve international trade payment system and boost risk management structures in the Nigerian financial industry.

This two-day Conference is certainly taking place at an auspicious time, when there are serious challenges to access to credit and availability of funding facilities, both locally and globally. It has become pertinent that traders and exporters now begin to explore non-traditional alternative mode of availment of credit towards enhancing higher turnover and shorter cash to cash cycle on trading transactions. This Conference is expected to provide a platform for knowledge-sharing, strategic partnership and synergy, while at the same time examining the opportunities, challenges and ways of mitigating inherent risks in international trade, among others.

Distinguished invited guests, participants, ladies and gentlemen, while I commend the collaborative efforts of all stakeholders for their foresight in bringing this international Conference to Nigeria, may I crave your indulgence to apprise you of the role and broad services of the Nigerian Export - Import Bank.

NEXIM Bank was established by Act 38 of 1991 as an Export Credit Agency (ECA), with a mandate to provide export credit and risk bearing facilities, as well as, trade information and export advisory services to companies engaged in the production of goods and services for exports. The Bank, which is jointly owned by the Central Bank of Nigeria and Federal Ministry of Finance Incorporated, has a broad mandate of ensuring continuous flow of credit to the export sector. In pursuit of its operational mandate of credit purveyance, NEXIM Bank provides a window for the rediscounting and refinancing of export trade bills under the Rediscounting and Refinancing Facility (RRF). The RRF is essentially designed to complement the roles of banks in export financing by liquefying their export credit transactions.

Distinguished invited guests, participants, ladies and gentlemen, you will all agree with me that this National Conference on trade financing is a strategic initiative that will facilitate the deepening of trade instruments and export credit as well as act as catalyst to fast track formal intra-regional trade arising from basic documentation requirements that forfaiting and factoring transactions would require.

While it is my fervent desire that this historic National Conference on factoring and forfaiting would stir up entrepreneurial interest and stimulate investment in exports development and facilitation, let me assure you all that NEXIM Bank will continue to support and will be willing to partner on initiatives that would expand and enhance the contribution of the non oil sector to the development of the external sector of the economy.   Specifically, NEXIM Bank is willing to review and widen its rediscount window operations exclusively reserved for interbank operations that could include factors and forfeiters to further broaden funding flow to the export sector. Also, the Bank’s Export Credit Insurance Facility can be provided to factoring and forfaiting transactions to mitigate country risk.

NEXIM Bank is equally optimistic that the knowledge and partnership that would ensue from this National Conference will in no small way assist all stakeholders in export and trade financing to devise resourceful ways of deepening export transactions and also introduce new financing instruments.

Distinguished, participants, Ladies and Gentlemen, I thank you for your attention and wish you fruitful deliberations.