Stanbic Bank is benefiting from a 30 million dollar guarantee from the International Finance Corporation, the private sector arm of the World Bank Group. The facility will help the bank to increase financing to companies that purchase cocoa from small farmers in Ghana. Stanbic Bank finances Licensed Buying Companies that procure cocoa from farmers on behalf of the Ghana Cocoa Board. The increased financing will therefore enable these companies to improve their financial management, reduce the overall cost of financing the procurement of cocoa beans, which should result in an increased volume of cocoa purchased from farmers. The Managing Director of the Bank Alhassan Andani says the IFC’s guarantee facility will help in meeting the growing funding needs of its clients in the cocoa sub-sector and enable them to adequately prepare for the coming crop season. Stanbic Ghana has been identified as the country’s fastest-growing bank. It is the only bank that moved to tier one bank category in the latest Pricewaterhousecooper Banking Survey commissioned by Ghana Association of Bankers. Among other clients, it finances Licensed Buying Companies that procure cocoa from farmers on behalf of the Ghana Cocoa Board. The increased financing will enable these companies to improve their financial management, reduce the overall cost of financing the procurement of cocoa beans, and result in an increased volume of cocoa purchased from farmers. “IFC’s guarantee facility will help Stanbic Ghana meet the growing funding needs of the Bank’s clients in the cocoa subsector and enable them to adequately prepare for the coming crop season,” said Alhassan Andani, Stanbic Ghana’s Managing Director. Stanbic said the facility is a vote of confidence in it’s cocoa sector lending programme. Source: Joy Business/Myjoyonline.com/Ghana