Afrikan Heroes

MUFG and Afreximbank Sign Memorandum of Understanding

African organizations and their Japanese counterparts are using the opportunities of the ongoing Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) at Yokohama City Japan to ink deals and enter into series of agreements. The most recent of such deals is between the MUFG Bank and African Export and Import Bank (Afreximbank) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to provide a broad framework for collaboration between the two organisations.The MOU will further strengthen the relationship between MUFG and Afreximbank, allowing for increased cooperation across Africa through the joint financing of transactions in Corporate, Project, and Sovereign financing, as well as enhancing the Trade Finance offering both organisations.

Speaking on the MoU, Mr. Takanori Sazaki, Regional Executive for MUFG in EMEA, said: “As we at MUFG seek to strengthen our presence across Africa through innovative opportunities, this MOU with Afreximbank is perfectly timed. The continent is undergoing remarkable growth and shows no sign of relenting due to market expansion and growth in investment from overseas. He noted that Japanese businesses are increasingly viewing Africa as a new frontier, as the seventh TICAD gathering clearly demonstrates, “and we look forward to facilitating discussions with international organisations, private companies and government bodies to enable long-term investment and trade expansion as part of this.” MUFG’s involvement in Africa goes back more than 90 years to 1926, when Yokohama Specie Bank, a forerunner of MUFG, opened an office in Egypt. Today MUFG has offices in Cairo, Egypt, and Johannesburg, South Africa.

Reacting to the development, the President of Afreximbank, Prof. Benedict Oramah, said that the Bank is proud to be signing this MOU with MUFG, noting that it strengthens the already good relations built over the past several years. The MOU sets a solid foundation for reinforcing the economic bond between Africa and Japan at a time of increasing global trade tensions. He added that “it creates a unique opportunity for African businesses to benefit from MUFG’s increasing African presence while also enabling MUFG to enhance its offerings to Japanese entities seeking business opportunities across Africa.”

Afreximbank is the foremost pan-African multilateral financial institution devoted to financing and promoting intra-African trade and trade between Africa and the rest of the world. It works with international partners to leverage trade financing into Africa. The Bank was established in October 1993 by African governments, African private and institutional investors, and non-African investors. Since 1994, it has approved more than $67 billion in credit facilities for African businesses, including $7.2 billion in 2018. Afreximbank had total assets of $13.4 billion as at 31 December 2018. It is rated BBB+ (GCR), Baa1 (Moody’s), and BBB- (Fitch).