AmTrade International Bank’s new president and CEO, Manuel Sicre, visited Atlanta last week to strengthen the bank’s strategic alliance with Banker’s Bank of Georgia, an specially chartered state member bank owned by 203 community banks in the Southeast.
Banker’s Bank joined with AmTrade in 1997 to provide international banking services and export finance to their clients, but the potential in the relationship can be further developed, Mr. Sicre told GlobalFax in an interview at company headquarters in midtown.
“The relationship has not been as large a part of our operations as we would like it to be,” said Mr. Sicre. “We want to explore the alliance and use it so that it benefits both parties.”
Mr. Sicre, who has 28 years of experience in financial institutions, was appointed president after serving seven months as senior vice president of the trade finance bank here. He now is based at AmTrade International Bank of Florida in Miami, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Atlanta bank.
Much of AmTrade’s lending has been to telecommunications and technology firms of all sizes, he said, that invest in “the powerhouse Latin American countries Argentina, Brazil and Mexico.”
And AmTrade is considering invest in Asia as well. “We’ve made contacts in Thailand and will be exploring opportunities there,” he said.
Although most of the bank’s operations are based in Miami, Mr. Sicre said that he plans to keep AmTrade’s strong presence in Atlanta and its ties with the Export-Import Bank of the U.S.
“This is my third trip here in two-and-a-half months,” the said. “I plan to be here at least once a month to meet with people in the banking community and make relationships with other banks.”
AmTrade may be reached at (404) 898-1100, or by fax at (404) 898-1110.