Fimbank

FIMBank plc

A Global Force in Trade Finance
Type	Public Limited Company
Traded as	MSE: FIM
Industry	Trade Finance Banking
Founded	licensed in 1994, operations started in 1995 (Malta)
Headquarters	St. Julian's, Malta
Key people	Murali Subramanian (Chief Executive Officer) John C. Grech (Chairman)
Products	Financial services, Structured trade and commodity finance, Forfaiting, Factoring, Corporate Banking,
Net income	1.21 mln USD (2015)
Total assets	1.60 bln USD (2015)
Number of employees	400 (2016)
Website	www.fimbank.com

FIMBank plc is a specialist trade finance Bank headquartered in Malta. The FIMBank Group benefits from an international network located in 19 financial and trading centres and distributed across five continents.^[1] The bank specialises in international trade finance, forfaiting, and factoring and is at the forefront in the introduction and development of receivable finance techniques particularly in emerging markets.^[2]

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

On 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 would see it increase its prospective holding to above 50% of the Bank’s issued share capital. During an Extraordinary General Meeting convened on 31 January 2013 an overwhelming majority of FIMBank plc shareholders approved two resolutions which enabled 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. As at 16 July 2014, FIMBank plc's issued share capital total was of 263,446,930 fully paid Ordinary shares of USD0.50 each with United Gulf Bank holding 63.05% and Burgan Bank holding 20.32%. On the 8 August 2014 informed the market that subsequent to the Rights Issue an additional 7,692,307 FIMBank plc ordinary shares were admitted to the Official List of the Malta Stock Exchange.^[3]

FIMBank Group 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 operations in selected emerging markets. Today FIMBank’s international network includes MENAFactors in Dubai, Egypt Factors in Egypt, India Factoring in India, BrasilFactors in Brazil, LATAM Factors in Chile. On the 10 March 2015, the Bank's Board of Directors approved decisions that included the consolidation of the Group footprint including a discontinuation of the investment in Factorus (Russia) which will no longer form part of the Group's investment strategy. ^[4][5]

In January 2015 Fitch Ratings downgraded FIMBank's long-term issuer default rating (IDR) to 'BB-' from 'BB', with a stable outlook, and viability rating (VR) from 'bb-' to 'bb'.The stable outlook on the long-term IDR reflected Fitch's belief that the Bank's capital would continue to be supported by its ultimate owners, the KIPCO group, in the foreseeable future, potentially easing further pressures from asset quality and profitability.^[6]

In August 2015 the bank announced the appointment of Murali Subramanian as the CEO.^[7] Mr Subramanian is a career banker in the corporate banking and trade finance area, having worked with Citibank, ABN Amro and an Abu Dhabi-based bank over his 28-year career.

The consolidation strategy adopted in 2015 has started to yield its desired results. Following the most difficult year in the Group’s history, the year under review necessitated stability to the business, reinforcement of the governance and risk structures and the gradual re-building of the portfolios to a sustainable level. Through the implementation of a number of measures and initiatives, the Group succeeded in curtailing the substantial impairments which marred the 2014 performance, whilst at the same time creating a revenue platform to generate value going forward. This period was also marked by the incurrence of a number of non-recurring expenses which pushed operating expenses beyond the prior year levels. Through an ongoing streamlining of the international factoring strategy, the different factoring businesses in Malta and abroad are now aligned towards a common objective. More focus was given to the structuring of transactions to ensure it remains robust and provides additional comfort beyond the recourse to the borrower’s cash flows. Aided by a strengthened leadership team and governance structures, the Group intensified its effort to maximise its resource potential, including a review of certain staff positions, enhanced cost management processes and better utilisation of its office utilisation across the different Group entities. For the year ended 31 December 2015, the Group registered a loss of USD7.1 million compared to a loss of USD45.2 million in 2014.^[8]

At 31 December 2015, total Consolidated Assets stood at USD1.3 billion, a marginal increase of 2% over the USD1.41 billion reported at end 2014, while Total Consolidated Liabilities stood at USD1.27 billion, up by 3.5% from USD1.23 billion in 2014. Net impairments decreased by 80%, standing at USD10.3 million, compared to USD50.7 million in 2014.

At 12 August 2016, FIMBank announced its return to profitability with a profit after tax of USD 1.21 million.^[9] This is due to the consolidation strategy adopted by the Bank in 2015. During the period recorded, 30 June 2016, net operating impairments continued to descend. FIMBank’s Chairman stressed that the achievements reported during this period “will serve to further reinvigorate our efforts, and focus our attention on registering further improvements across the different facets of the organisation, including asset origination, funding and capital management, risk and compliance, and ultimately, superior profitability and added value to all stakeholders."^[9]

Structure

FIMBank is headquartered in Malta and operates through its network in London, New York, Athens, São Paulo, Moscow, Cairo, Istanbul, Santiago, Singapore, Paris, Cologne, Mumbai and Dubai, servicing clients in more than 50 countries.^[10] FIMBank is listed on the Malta Stock Exchange with symbol FIM^[1] and is regulated by the Malta Financial Services Authority^[4] and is a member of the Depositor Compensation Scheme in Malta ^[11] FIMBank is a member of the KIPCO Group.^[12]

London Forfaiting Company Ltd (LFC) which was founded in 1984 is a fully owned subsidiary of the Bank. LFC is a market leader in the forfaiting market with the main activities being the purchasing of bills of exchange, promissory notes, deferred payment letters of credit and transferable financial loans from exporters or their banks.^[13] FIMBank 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.^[14] As part of its services repertoire, FIMBank has developed the Easisave brand, a savings account platform which is accessible solely over the Internet.^[15]

References

External links

• Official site
• Interview with FIMBank Chairman 31 January 2013
• Interview with FIMBank President and Vice Chairman 31 January 2013
• Interview with Burgan Bank CEO 31 January 2013
• FIMBank Corporate Feature 6 September 2013