The International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC), an autonomous entity within the IDB Group, received a historic recognition for its ground-breaking Structured Murabaha sugar trade finance deal for Indonesia when it scooped the prestigious “Deal of the Year” Award 2009 from Euromoney. In addition the ITFC also received a global corporate banking recognition, the EMEA Award for Excellence as the Best Development Financial Institution (DFI) Middle East, also from Euromoney. The ITFC, inheriting its pioneering mantle of its trade finance expertise which was developed over a period of more than thirty years by the Islamic Development Group, moved the deal structure to a higher level when it applied an innovative structured Murabaha Islamic financial product in favor of the Indonesian raw sugar refiner PT Angels Products (PTAP). Moreover this $25 million trade finance operation was described as a ‘runaway winner', thanks to the ITFC's role in being innovative in structuring a Shariah-compliant trade finance operation. Commenting on the two awards, Eng. Hani Salem Sonbol, deputy CEO of ITFC, said “the ITFC designed the first of its kind structured trade finance operation in Indonesia and its innovative composition will further augment the ITFC's catalyst role in contributing to the development of markets, trading capacities for OIC member countries; in order for them to do business more effectively among themselves and with the rest of the world.” Moreover, he said “the EMEA Award for Excellence that we received as Best Development Financial Institution (DFI) Middle East is a further recognition for our achievements that seen has seen us and in very short period of time make significant strides in our efforts, inter alia, to support the growth and development of economic sectors that expand and diversify business opportunities.” He added that “this award further buttresses our strong advocacy for Shariah-based trade finance solutions that provide an alternative model which binds both the real and financial economies and thus encourage risk-sharing, promotes entrepreneurship and discourages speculative behavior.” The Euromoney Deal of the Year Award is presented by Trade Finance Magazine, a Euromoney flagship publication that is the longest established global magazine concentrating exclusively on international trade, export and commodity finance. Each year around 300 of the best deals worldwide are entered for the awards and the winner is selected by a panel of trade finance journalists and independent industry experts.
