VIDEO | Banking at the front line: EBRD's role in crisis and recovery - Trade Treasury Payments

• Home
• Blog
• Africa
• VIDEO | Banking at the front line: EBRD’s role in crisis and recovery

VIDEO | Banking at the front line: EBRD’s role in crisis and recovery

At the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) 2025 Annual Meeting and Business Forum in London, Trade Treasury Payments (TTP) spoke with Francis Malige, Managing Director and Head of Financial Institutions at EBRD, to understand how the bank is responding to conflict, disruption, and economic reconstruction across its regions of operation.

Trade is often the first casualty in times of crisis. Whether in Lebanon, Gaza or Ukraine, commercial banks are quick to pull back credit lines when volatility hits and that is precisely where the EBRD steps in.

Malige said, “You often hear people say that banks will give you an umbrella, but then take it away the moment it starts raining. That’s not true at all for the EBRD. When it starts raining, that’s when we open the umbrella. We actually increase our support to our clients.”

In Ukraine, that commitment has been significant. EBRD investment in the country has doubled since the onset of war, reaching €2 billion per year, up from €1 billion annually before the invasion. The bank has worked closely with local financial institutions to introduce novel products tailored to wartime conditions, such as large-scale risk-sharing facilities designed to maintain liquidity and preserve access to finance for the real economy.

Malige said, “Reconstruction is not just about building power plants or railway networks. It’s about hundreds of thousands of SMEs making individual investment decisions that ultimately drive economic growth.”

To reach those businesses, the EBRD relies on a deep network of partner banks. While the bank itself funds around 500 projects annually, its partners lend to hundreds of thousands of SMEs each year.

“After war or disruption, recovery is about recreating hope,” he said. “That’s where our partner banks play a vital role, with our support.”

The EBRD is preparing to broaden its geographic footprint and just this month its shareholders accepted an amendment to Article 1 of the Agreement Establishing the EBRD, enabling the expansion of its operations to selected countries in sub-Saharan Africa and Iraq. As with the EBRD’s post-Cold War work in Eastern Europe, the aim is to help deliver prosperity through a blend of trade finance, SME support, financial inclusion, and green investment.

Malige said, “Sub-Saharan Africa is going to be the engine of growth in the 21st century. The market for products like SME lending, women in business, green energy finance, is large and we look forward to contributing to the development of these countries.”

With operations approved in Nigeria, Benin and Ivory Coast and soon launching in Kenya, Ghana and Senegal, the EBRD is setting itself up to become a long-term partner for resilience and renewal where it is needed most.