In Washington:
Lotte Pang, IFC
Phone: +1 202 758 4290
E-mail: LPang@ifc.org

In Honduras:
Sergio Guevara, BANPAIS
Phone: +504 566 2020 Ext.2400
E-mail: SGuevara@banpais.hn


Washington, D.C., May 27, 2009—IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, announced today that Banco del País in Honduras has joined the IFC Global Trade Finance Program to expand its trade-finance transactions within an expansive global network and to improve access to trade finance for businesses in country.

Banpais is the third Honduran issuing bank to join the Global Trade Finance Program, which supports trade in emerging markets by providing risk mitigation. By extending and complementing banks’ capacity to provide trade finance, IFC aims to increase developing countries’ share of global trade and promote the flow of goods and services among those countries.

Banpaís Executive President María Selman, said: “Our new relationship with the IFC Global Trade Finance Program will help us provide greater trade financing support to our small and medium enterprise clients and increase access to new markets around the world.”

IFC Vice President Thierry Tanoh said, “The entry of Banco del País to the IFC Global Trade Finance Program is a key element of IFC’s efforts to improve access to finance for small and medium enterprises in Honduras and strengthen trade finance in the Central American region."

Under the Global Trade Finance Program, IFC has issued $1.38 billion in guarantees to facilitate trade flows in Latin America and the Caribbean. The network of issuing banks for the region has expanded to 39 banks in 15 countries: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Peru, St. Lucia and Uruguay.

More than 40 percent of the guarantees issued benefited local small and midsize businesses and supported interregional trade flows between emerging market nations. For more information about the program, contact Antonio Alves, Head of Trade Finance for Latin America and the Caribbean Region, at aalves1@ifc.org, or visit www.ifc.org/gtfp.

About IFC
IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, creates opportunity for people to escape poverty and improve their lives. We foster sustainable economic growth in developing countries by supporting private sector development, mobilizing private capital, and providing advisory and risk mitigation services to businesses and governments. Our new investments totaled $16.2 billion in fiscal 2008, a 34 percent increase over the previous year. For more information, visit www.ifc.org.

About BANCO DEL PAIS
Banpais was established in 1992 in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, and is a full-service commercial bank providing a wide range of financial services to over 250,000 retail, commercial and corporate clients through a nationwide network of more than 170 points of service.  For more information, visit www.banpais.hn.