KfW IPEX-Bank enjoys successful 2019 financial year

In the context of the crisis brought on by the coronavirus, KfW IPEX-Bank, which is responsible for export and project finance within KfW Group, can look back on a successful financial year in 2019. New commitments for financing in the interests of the German and European economy reached a historical high at EUR 22.1 billion.

“The coronavirus crisis is already having a significant impact on international trade and large investments worldwide. In light of this situation, our new business in 2020 will fall short of the good financial year in 2019, even though it is not yet possible to make any reliable forecasts”, explained Klaus R. Michalak, CEO of KfW IPEX-Bank. “Yet under the current circumstances in particular it is of great importance to us to provide tailored financing to German and European export companies on the global markets with a view to supporting investments in the future and safeguarding German and European jobs in the long term.”

Volume of lending and commitments

The main driving force behind the increase in the volume of lending to EUR 69.1 billion (2018: EUR 66.6 billion) was the above-average volume of export and project financing commitments in 2019.

In its original lending business, KfW IPEX-Bank provided the German and European export industry with new loans amounting to EUR 18.6 billion (2018: EUR 17.0 billion). In particular, the new commitment volume of the ‘Power, Renewables and Water’ sector reached a strong EUR 3.2 billion, a large proportion of which was related to projects associated with the energy transition, for example onshore and offshore wind farms and conventional low-emission energy projects, such as LNG-to-power facilities.

This was supplemented by new commitments of approx.. EUR 3.5 billion (2018: EUR 0.7 billion) for bank refinancing under the CIRR ship and ERP export financing programmes, where KfW IPEX-Bank, on behalf of KfW under a mandate from the Federal Republic, disburses loans at a minimum standardised interest rate to finance German exports of capital goods to developing countries (ERP-CIRR) or ships ordered at German shipyards (ship CIRR).

Contribution of the Export and Project Finance business sector to KfW's consolidated earnings

With a contribution to KfW’s consolidated earnings of EUR 499 million (2018: EUR 537 million), in the 2019 financial year KfW IPEX-Bank again helped to secure KfW’s long-term promotional capacity – needed now more than ever before – and thereby affirmed its role as one of KfW Group’s main sources of earnings.

The entire 2019 Annual Report of KfW IPEX-Bank including the 2019 Corporate Governance Report can be found here: www.kfw-ipex-bank.de/About-us/Annual-Report

¹⁾ For which KfW IPEX-Bank GmbH is responsible