São Paulo – The International Relations Director of Brazilian bank Pine, Angela Martins, should travel to the Middle East on Wednesday (1) seeking new business for the institution. With her, she will take years of experience in business with the region, as an executive at ABC Bank and a specialist in Islamic finance, operations designed to respect religious precepts.
“After all these years at ABC, I still have contacts in the region,” said Angela to ANBA. She started working at Pine in April last year and has already opened the bank’s doors into Islamic finance. The institution recently raised US$ 37 million with Saudi bank Al-Rajhi through an instrument called “murabaha”, a commodities purchase and sales contract made in accordance with Muslim tradition.
Angela stated that this was the first operation of the kind by a “purely Brazilian” bank, which does not include ABC, which has Arab capita. During the trip, she plans to develop further business with Al-Rajhi and with other institutions, not just in Islamic finance, but also with traditional banks, sovereign funds and fostering organisations, like the Islamic Development Bank. Her agenda includes meetings in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates.
The Pine interests are collecting investment for the bank itself and seeking new lines of credit, especially for foreign trade financing. According to Angela, the institution is turned to supplying credit and other services to companies, and most of its client portfolio is made up of large companies.
She pointed out that there is liquidity in the Middle East, although investors in the region are “careful” due to the European crisis. With the economies of developed nations sliding, the executive believes that Brazil may be a good alternative for investment.
“Everyone is seeking alternatives,” she pointed out. “And Brazil is a viable alternative, as its economy is growing and the country has strong foreign trade, capable of offering ballast [to operations],” she said. She pointed out that Pine is “very attractive” in agribusiness, the powerhouse for the Brazilian trade surplus and is an origin for a significant share of Brazilian exports to the Arab world.
Angela added that Pine is promoting an internationalisation process. Last year, German development bank DEG bought 3% of the Brazilian institution’s capital. This allows Pine to offer long- term financing lines as well as those made available by the Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES).
This expansion abroad also includes Asia, but contracts with the Arab countries are progressing faster due to her established relations with the region. Angela even has a published book on Islamic finance called “Islamic Banking”.
Pine, according to her, is a medium bank, with capital of approximately R$ 1.2 billion (US$ 687 million) and assets of R$ 8 billion (US$ 4.6 billion). The company is listed in the São Paulo Stock Exchange (Bovespa).
*Translated by Mark Ament
