With the full financial support of the International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC) (www.ITFC-idb.org), member of the Islamic Development Bank Group (IsDB), Coris Bank International (CBI), a leading bank in West Africa, headquartered in Burkina Faso, has recently launched a range of Islamic financing solutions and products under its Islamic window called “Coris Baraka”.

ITFC has been a key partner of Coris Bank International since 2015, following a USD9 million agreement whereby ITFC provided the bank with funding to boost the private sector of the Burkinabe economy. One major objective of the partnership was to alleviate the funding challenges of this crucial sector of the economy while contributing to job creation and income generation. This funding was essential for CBI to develop the Islamic finance window in Burkina Faso.

The agreement reflected ITFC’s efforts to help the private sector in member countries gain better access to trade finance and its strategic approach to develop the potential of Islamic finance in Burkina Faso, which has a majority of Muslim population. The total funding ITFC has provided so far reached USD43 million.

Coris Bank Senegal has also been selected as the official partner of the Pilot Project of ITFC new West Africa SME Development Program. This is an Integrated Trade Solution aimed at improving access to credit for SMEs in 8 West African 8 Countries through the provision of capacity building services to local entrepreneurs and lines of financing to local banks.

The Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector (“ICD”), the private sector arm of IDB Group, helped structure the Coris Bank International Islamic Window in Senegal in line with the advisory agreement signed by ICD and CBI in 2017 whereby ICD assists Coris Bank International’s subsidiaries in launching four dedicated Islamic windows in Cote d’Ivoire, Mali, Senegal and Benin.