The 5th East African Banking and Microfinance Forum organized by the Trade and Development Bank Group (TDB Group) and the European Investment Bank (EIB) kicked off on Thursday in Nairobi, Kenya.
The Forum seeks to enhance investment best-practice across the region, with over 500 industry professionals from leading African and international banks, financial institutions and banking associations participating.
This annual event brings together experts from development banks, microfinance institutions, central banks, commercial banks, business and entrepreneurs, and other financial insitutions to discuss solutions to the most critical issues facing to the East African banking sector today.
Organized under the theme “Financing for Sustainable Development: a Response to the Challenges of Climate Change”, this 5th edition of the Forum – convened weeks after an African COP27 climate summit – focuses on enhancing climate finance and resilience, and unlocking investment to better cater to socio-economic and climate challenges across East Africa.
Admassu Tadesse, TDB Group President Emeritus and Managing Director said: “The East African Banking and Microfinance Forum has become an important occasion to drive thought-leadership on current opportunities and challenges of the banking sector in East Africa, as well as on the ins and outs of its operating environment as it stands today. We are delighted to organize this Forum once again with EIB, a strategic partner of our Group. Together we are shedding some much needed light on the most pressing issues of the day in the region, and on how finance should be harnessed for development that is indeed sustainable, here in Africa, but also globally.”
Thomas Östros, European Investment Bank Vice President said: “This year’s East African Banking and Microfinance Forum aims at discussing best practices and enhancing targeted investment that are crucial to address challenges such as drought and extreme weather events, as well as energy shocks and food security across the region. The EIB and TDB are committed to working closely with local financial partners to identify challenges, share solutions and enrich specialist financial expertise that can strengthen the impact of private investment across East Africa.”
Henriette Geiger, European Union Ambassador to Kenya said: “The European Union recognizes the importance of enhancing private sector investment that better tackles climate, food security and energy challenges impacting this region. The East African Banking and Microfinance Forum demonstrates how African and international partners can listen and learn from each other to enhance sustainable investment.”
The Forum will also contribute to advancing discussions on strengthening operational resilience of banking in the face of diverse crises; managing supply chains to boost food and energy security; enhancing infrastructure investment; embracing technology; increasing access to finance by entrepreneurs; the potential of the AfCFTA for shared prosperity; risk management and credit migration; and more – with as cross-cutting themes climate action and inclusive growth.
TDB Group and EIB have been growing their cooperation since 2014, to advance development on a triple bottom-line basis in TDB member states. In addition to the East African Banking and Microfinance Forum which the institutions have been collaborating on since 2018, various facilities have been extended to TDB to finance critical projects tackling climate action, SMEs, and investment in fragile contexts, complemented with technical assistance.
Established in 1985, the Eastern and Southern African Trade and Development Bank (TDB) is a regional development finance institution, with investment grade ratings and assets of USD 8bn. TDB serves 23 member states in its region, with the mandate to finance and foster trade, regional economic integration and sustainable development, through trade finance, project and infrastructure finance and asset management.
TDB is part of TDB Group, which also comprises the Trade and Development Fund (TDF), Eastern and Southern African Trade Advisers Limited (ESATAL), TDB Captive Insurance (TCI), and the TDB Academy.
The European Investment Bank is the lending arm of the European Union. We are the biggest multilateral financial institution in the world and one of the largest providers of climate finance.