The Hindu Business Line : Bank of Maharashtra may hike stake in Global Trade Finance

GLOBAL Trade Finance, the four-way partnership between Exim Bank, Bank of Maharashtra, Bank of Malta and International Finance Corporation, may see a change in its equity sharing pattern if a proposal being discussed informally is carried forward.

The proposal may see Bank of Maharashtra (BoM) scale up its holding, which now stands at 10 per cent, said Mr S.C. Basu, Chairman and Managing Director of BoM.

No formal plan had been discussed by the company's board so far, he added.

The joint venture, which started business in late 2001, was created to offer export-financing tools for exporters, especially small- and medium-scale enterprises.

Its sponsors include IFC, Washington, which was reportedly trying to identify ways of encouraging factoring and forfaiting services in developing economies.

The company, incidentally, was flagged off by the then Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, Mr Rajiv Pratap Rudy.

. Factoring (for the short-term) assists in lessening the credit and collection burden created by international sales. Forfaiting can be for receivables against which payments are due over a longer period of time. "The company is doing fairly well. Our stake in it is strategic in nature," Mr Basu told newspersons on Tuesday. It is not known as to when the plan will be carried out. The company's equity base, incidentally, is not too large at the moment.

BoM is planning offices in centres such as New York, Singapore and London.

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