Sports company PUMA and the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, have entered into a partnership to provide financing to PUMA's suppliers in emerging markets. This innovative program, which is the first a European brand signs with IFC, will offer financial incentives for suppliers to improve environmental, health and safety and social standards. In its first phase, the program will be rolled out in Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Pakistan and Vietnam. IFC will adopt a financing structure with tiered pricing of short-term working capital, offering lower costs for those suppliers that achieve a high score in PUMA's supplier rating, that is applied after PUMA has monitored a supplier's adherence to the company's social and environmental standards through an auditing process...PUMA and IFC launched this initiative in partnership with GT Nexus, a cloud-based business network and platform for global trade and supply chain management...