The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and Standard Chartered have signed a $100 million agreement to support infrastructure-related trade flows into emerging and frontier markets, the two institutions announced on 5 June 2026.
The facility will finance the import of infrastructure equipment and capital goods into AIIB member countries, using the bank’s unfunded risk-participation and credit-guarantee instruments to mobilise private capital and extend access to longer-term trade finance. The partnership is AIIB’s first under its trade facilitation initiative.
AIIB: What It Means
The agreement targets structural gaps in trade finance availability across markets where access remains constrained, particularly amid ongoing macroeconomic volatility and supply chain disruption. Standard Chartered’s network across Asia, Africa, and the Middle East forms the operational backbone of the arrangement, with AIIB providing the risk instruments to extend financing across the infrastructure value chain from equipment supply through to project execution.
Kim See Lim, AIIB’s Chief Investment Officer, said the partnership aims to address structural gaps in longer-term finance for infrastructure-related trade flows, “particularly in markets where access remains constrained.” Sofia Hammoucha, Global Head of Trade and Working Capital at Standard Chartered, described the bank as a “super-connector” with an extensive network across Asia, Africa, and the Middle East, adding that the partnership reflects a commitment to “channeling capital and unlocking trade flows where they are needed most.”
AIIB has 111 approved members, is capitalised at $100 billion, and carries AAA ratings from major international credit rating agencies. Standard Chartered operates across 54 markets globally.
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