Eastern Bank and Germany's development finance institution DEG have entered into an initial agreement to intensify collaboration in the fields of SME, corporate and infrastructure financing in Bangladesh.

EBL Chief Executive Officer Ali Reza Iftekhar and DEG CEO Bruno Wenn signed the memorandum of understanding at a hotel in Dhaka yesterday.

In a statement, Iftekhar said, “It's a privilege working with the DEG over last decade and developing financial solutions for Bangladesh market.”

“We look forward to closely working with the DEG in the coming days to contribute meaningfully to Bangladesh's journey to a developing country.”In February, EBL and the DEG celebrated the 10th anniversary of their partnership.

In the decade, the DEG has provided EBL with long-term funding to support local SMEs and green lending. In addition, the organisations have co-financed local corporates.

The DEG has partnered with EBL in developing a social and environmental risk assessment system, for sustainable business growth, said the statement.

For the coming decade, the DEG and EBL will seek more opportunities to jointly support the real economy in Bangladesh, it said. 

To date, the DEG and EBL have partnered in three financing agreements, including two with other development finance institutions, for an aggregate amount of more than $100 million.

Under these agreements, EBL has obtained foreign currency funds from the DEG to meet customers' requirements with respect to long-term foreign currency financing requirements and related areas from its banking unit in export processing zones.