Supporting commercial banks to finance trade in Africa, in a bid to transform the continent, was a commitment that the African Development Bank concretized on 29 May 2013 in Marrakech, Morocco, with the provision of a loan totaling US$ 600 million to two major international banks.

With a US$ 400 million loan to Standard Chartered Bank, its Chief Executive Officer Ebeneze Essoka expressed his institution's gratitude and affirmed that "it is a good partnership and a good beginning with the African Development Bank.

"We are going to be very much at the center of transactions with great impact on our operations and on Africans," Essoka said.

Signing the US$ 200 million funding for the Germany-based Commerzbank, Christof Gabriel Maetze, member of the Executive Management Board, highlighted the relevance of the loan "for boosting our business in Africa."

He said: "With the funding, we are going to strengthen our business in the continent where we already deal with 51 countries."

The AfDB's private sector department director, Tim Turner, for his part, highlighted the funding gap in African trade finance and expressed "the Bank's readiness to support initiatives that can bolster the private sector in the continent in line with the AfDB's Ten Year Strategy."

Trade is a fundamental driver of Africa's economic development. It is acknowledged that growth is derived from investments and trade, and that by facilitating and financing trade, the African Development Bank will promote sustainable economic growth in its Regional Member Countries (RMCs).

The African Development Bank' Long Term Strategy places a strong emphasis on private sector development, which it sees as vital to economic and social progress in Africa. To achieve this, the Bank believes that the continent needs more open economies and increased trade, both within and between African countries, and the rest of the world.

Standard Chartered Bank operates in 70 countries in the world and is present in 15 countries in Africa