Fimbank

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FIMBank plc
Type Public Limited Company
Industry Trade Finance
Banking
Founded licensed in 1994, operations started in 1995 (Malta)
Headquarters Mercury Tower,
The Exchange Financial,
& Business Centre
Elia Zammit Street
St. Julian's STJ 3155,
Malta
Area served Worldwide
Key people Margrith Lütschg-Emmenegger - President
Dr John C. Grech - Chairman
Products Financial services, Structured trade and commodity finance, Forfaiting, Factoring, Corporate Banking,
Employees 170 (2013)
Website www.fimbank.com


FIMBank plc is a specialist trade finance bank headquartered in St. Julian's, Malta[1] that specialises in international trade finance, forfaiting, and factoring.[2]

Structure

FIMBank is based in Malta and operates through its network in London, New York, São Paulo, Moscow, Beirut, Cairo, Istanbul, Singapore and Dubai, servicing clients in more than 50 countries.[3] FIMBank is listed on the Malta Stock Exchange with symbol FIM[1] and is regulated by the Malta Financial Services Authority.[4] The Bank provides commodity trade finance, ship finance, warehouse finance, international cross-border payment services (SWIFT wire-transfers), fixed term deposits in all major currencies, call accounts, counter/barter trade facilities, syndication/risk participations, bonds and guarantees, factoring, forfaiting and other banking services.[5]

History

The FIMBank Group saw its beginning in 1994 with the establishment of First International Merchant Bank Ltd. In June 2001, the shares of First International Merchant Bank p.l.c. were listed on the Malta Stock Exchange and four years later the Bank changed its name to FIMBank p.l.c. In 2003, FIMBank acquired full control of UK registered London Forfaiting Company Ltd.[6]

The Bank has a long-term partnership with the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation (IFC) and has made its mark on the international factoring sector by offering a complete portfolio of factoring services and actively pursuing a strategy of establishing factoring joint ventures with prominent institutions in selected emerging markets. Today FIMBank’s international network includes MENAFactors in Dubai, Egypt Factors in Egypt, Levant Factors in Lebanon, FactorRus in Russia, India Factoring in India, BrasilFactors in Brazil as well as a strategic partnership with ROMFactor in Romania.[4][7]

On the 13 March 2012 it was announced that the Bank's largest shareholder Massaleh Investments K.S.C.C. had granted Burgan Bank of Kuwait the right to acquire its holding in the Bank equivalent to 38.8% of the Bank’s issued share capital. On its part, Burgan Bank has informed the FIMBank Board of Directors of its intention to inject new equity in FIMBank which will see it increase its prospective holding to above 50% of the Bank’s issued share capital. During an Extraordinary General Meeting convened on the 31st January 2013 an overwhelming majority of FIMBank plc shareholders approved two resolutions which will enable Burgan Bank of Kuwait and United Gulf Bank B.S.C. of Bahrain both members of KIPCO to acquire a controlling interest in the company, subject to regulatory approval from Malta, Kuwait and Bahrain.On the 9th December 2013 the trade finance specialist announced that Burgan Bank and United Gulf Bank launched a joint voluntary bid to acquire all the issued shares in FIMBank plc not already owned. Shareholders may sell part or all of their holding to the Offerors at the price of US$0.95 per share which represents a premium of US$0.138 (16.5 per cent) to the net asset value of FIMBank plc of US$0.8152 per share as at 30th June 2013.The Acceptance Period is from the 16th December 2013 up to the 20th January 2014.

The FIMBank Group registered a pre-tax-profit of USD8.84 million during 2012, compared with USD8.28 million in 2011. The Group’s Balance Sheet saw considerable growth, with Total Consolidated Assets as at 31 December 2012 standing at USD1.13 billion, an increase of 11% over end-2011 figures. [8]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "fimbank plc (FIM:Valletta)", Bloomberg Business Week, http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/snapshot/snapshot.asp?ticker=FIM:MV
  2. ↑ "TEXT-Fitch Revises Fimbank's Outlook to Negative; Affirms at 'BB'", Reuters, Feb 20, 2012, http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/20/markets-ratings-idUSWNA058620120220
  3. ↑ "GTLP FIM Bank", International Finance Corporation World Bank Group, 20 December 2010, http://www.ifc.org/ifcext/spiwebsite1.nsf/ProjectDisplay/SPI_DP30171
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 "Malta Financial Services Authority", 3 June 2012, http://www.mfsa.com.mt/pages/licenceholders.aspx
  5. ↑ "FIMBank Group website", 3 June 2012, http://www.fimbank.com
  6. ↑ "London Forfaiting website", 3 June 2012, http://www.forfaiting.com
  7. ↑ "FIMBank International Factoring Joint Venture Strategy", 3 June 2012, http://www.fimbank.com/international-joint-venture-strategy
  8. ↑ "FIMBank registers 7% increase in pre-tax profit in 2012", 7 March 2013, http://www.maltatoday.com.mt/en/businessdetails/business/businessnews/FIMBank-registers-7-increase-in-pre-tax-profit-20130307"

External links

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