ADB and Deutsche Bank Sign Agreement to Improve Financing for SMEs

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Deutsche Bank have signed a risk participation agreement to improve access to financing for Asia and the Pacific's small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). ADB's Trade and Supply Chain Finance Programme (TSCFP) and Deutsche Bank AG's Singapore branch signed the agreement.

"Partnering with Deutsche Bank will allow companies, particularly SMEs, access to the global supply chain, which can spur economic growth and contribute to job creation," said Suzanne Gaboury, ADB's Director General for Private Sector Operations. "Partnerships like this one allow ADB to catalyse the private sector and mobilise capital for trade transactions that support development across the region."

Supply chain finance is critical to increasing trade by providing working capital to suppliers by leveraging their relationships with larger corporates. With short-term revolving facilities for supply chain finance transactions, this partnership has the potential to support more than $200 million in additional trade in Asia and the Pacific each year.

The agreement will improve Deutsche Bank's ability to support SMEs and other corporate clients by releasing more capital for use in key regional economic sectors such as pharmaceuticals and agriculture.

"We are honoured to collaborate with ADB on this critical initiative." We will work together to help smaller businesses grow by improving access to supply chain financing. "We believe this is significant because we are seeing an increase in demand for this in the trade sector," said Deutsche Bank's Head of Trade Finance and Lending for Asia Pacific, Matthew Moodey.