ABU DHABI: First Gulf Bank is providing a $350 million loan to one of Indonesian coking coal producers PT Asmin Koalindo Tuhup (AKT) to meet its working capital needs for exports, theUnited Arab Emirateslender said on Sunday.

The deal with AKT, a subsidiary of Borneo Lumbung, is one of the largest bilateral pre-export financing facility deals done by the Abu Dhabi-based bank, it said in a statement.

Trade ties between the oil-rich Gulf states and Asia-Pacific countries is growing and the deal boosts FGB's role in the rapidly-growing markets, George Abraham, head of corporate banking at FGB said in the statement.

"We firmly believe inAsia's fast-paced growth and are optimistic about being a part of this progress," he said.

FGB has had a wholesale banking branch inSingaporesince 2009 and is looking to open four new branches

inHong Kong,South Korea,ChinaandIndonesia, the statement said.

Copyright Reuters, 2012