ICO and KfW sign cooperation agreement to promote the exchange of personnel

Frankfurt (ots) - Today, Román Escolano, Chairman of the Spanish
Instituto de Crédito Oficial (ICO), and Dr Ulrich Schröder, CEO of
the German KfW Bankengruppe (KfW), signed a cooperation agreement in
Frankfurt. The agreement aims to renew and expand the exchange of
personnel and experts between the two specialised credit
institutions.

"The signing of this agreement provides a clear impetus for the
collaboration agreed by the two institutions in September last year
during the Spanish-German Business Conference held in Madrid",
indicated Román Escolano. During this event, Escolano and Schröder
held a meeting to identify the fields of cooperation. Thus, both
chairmen share the view that the agreement signed today is highly
important as it will enable KfW and ICO to share and promote the best
practices they are developing in their respective countries under the
current economic climate.

An initial exchange programme implemented in 2005 has already been
used by both sides. Based on the now renewed agreement, experts from
both ICO and KfW will respectively acquire deeper knowledge of the
business activities and promotional instruments applied. The two
banks can agree on either a short term (2 weeks) or a long term (up
to 6 months) deployment to intensify their exchange of experiences as
well as the networking between their institutions. As they have
similar business models, both will benefit from this programme in
equal measure.

"The fact that our employees are able to study shared business
areas with such an exemplary institution as KfW and to work on the
design of programmes that will boost the overseas expansion of
Spanish companies, one of our key strategic aims in 2013, brings
added value to ICO", the Chairman of the Spanish state-owned bank
underlined.

"Bolstering confidence and mutual understanding amongst European
partners is of growing importance not only in terms of overcoming the
financial and economic crisis, but also to foster convergence in
Europe. ICO plays an important role in overcoming the current
financial and economic crisis in Spain", said Ulrich Schröder. "As
the promotional bank of the Federal Republic of Germany, KfW takes
responsibility by strengthening international partnerships amongst
financial institutions and by actively enforcing European networks.
And ICO is one of our most important partner institutions in Europe."
A long-lasting cooperation amongst European specialised credit
institutions has been established in different associations and in
particular within the European Promotional Network 'NEFI'.

About ICO:

Instituto de Crédito Oficial is a State-owned bank attached to the
Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness. With its 40-year history,
ICO has become a benchmark credit institution in the financing of
both SME and large-scale infrastructure projects, not only in Spain
but also abroad.

About KfW:

Established in 1948 as a public law institution, KfW is today
owned 80% by the Federal Republic of Germany and 20% by the federal
states ("Länder"). KfW is devoted to the principle of sustainability
and takes particular responsibility for the protection of the
environment and the climate. Its main activities are the promotion of
SMEs, financing of the housing sector and of municipalities, export
and project finance as well as the promotion of developing and
transitional countries.

Contact:
KfW, Palmengartenstr. 5 - 9, 60325 Frankfurt
Kommunikation (KOM); Nathalie Drücke,
Phone: +49 (0)69 7431 2098, Fax: +49 (0)69 7431 3266,
E-Mail: presse@kfw.de, Internet: www.kfw.de