Bankia : In the year to November, Bankia’s support for companies’ foreign trade operations reached 9,000 million, an increase of 14%

• This growth was built on an expansion of export and import finance, which was up 14.6% at 7,048 million euros
• International guarantees and letters of credit for companies contributed 1,870 million euros to the foreign trade business, up 12%
• This growth in funding was driven by an increase in the active customer base, which grew 16% year-on-year

During the first eleven months of the year Bankia granted 9,000 million euros of funding to support the foreign trade activities of Spanish companies. This figure represents year-on-year growth of 14%.

The two channels through which Bankia supports foreign trade are export and import finance properly speaking and the guarantees and letters of credit that are vital for Spanish companies that want to take part in international tenders.

The export and import finance business grew at a rate of 14.6% in the eleven-month period, reaching a total of 7,048 million euros. In the first half of the year, Bankia also granted 1,870 million euros of international guarantees and letters of credit for companies, representing growth of 12%.

These increases in activity took place after the Bank had expanded its active customer base by 16% in the last 12 months.

Bankia supports internationalising companies with a wide range of services and products. The Bank's offering to companies covers everything from short-term working capital finance for foreign purchases and sales or international factoring, reverse factoring and forfaiting to medium and long-term investment and development finance for projects tendered for outside Spain.

For these purposes, Bankia offers its customers personalised service through trade specialists located throughout its commercial network and an exclusive telephone and online hotline called 'Línea Experta Comex' to respond to inquiries and assist customers in their foreign trade transactions, among other initiatives.