DealsBrief
EBRD gives Raiffeisen Bank Serbia a €35 million risk-sharing facility
The guarantee covers half the credit risk on up to €70 million of new small business loans, with an EU first-loss counter-guarantee.
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The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development said it is giving Raiffeisen Bank Serbia a €35 million risk-sharing facility to support up to €70 million of new loans to micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, in a release on 28 October.
The facility is an unfunded portfolio guarantee: the EBRD covers 50 per cent of the credit risk on a newly generated portfolio of MSME loans originated by the bank. The European Union backs it with technical assistance and a first-loss counter-guarantee from the European Fund for Sustainable Development Plus (EFSD+) Growth for All programme. The EBRD said the lending will target underserved businesses, including those led by women and young people, and small firms in tourism, agriculture and rural areas.
Zoran Petrović, chairman of Raiffeisen Bank Serbia's executive board, said supporting small and medium-sized businesses is one of the bank's strategic priorities. The EBRD said it has invested more than €11.3 billion in Serbia through 423 projects.
The Serbian facility is one of several EU-backed packages the EBRD announced for Western Balkan lenders in the same week, two of them carrying EFSD+ cover. The European Commission describes EFSD+ as one of the financing tools of its Global Gateway strategy, offering risk-sharing instruments of up to €40 billion with the aim of mobilising up to €135 billion of public and private financing in partner countries. On 29 October the EBRD announced €10 million for Alter Modus, which it called Montenegro's leading microfinance institution: a €7 million MSME loan, €2 million under the Western Balkans Women in Business programme and €1 million under the Western Balkans Youth in Business programme, with EFSD+ first-loss cover on the last two. The same day it said it is providing €9 million to UniCredit Bank Banja Luka in Bosnia and Herzegovina, €5 million under SME Go Green and €4 million under the Western Balkans Green Economy Financing Facility, with EU-funded cashback incentives of up to 15 per cent for eligible investments.
The EBRD's recent bank deals in the region also include its stake in a Serbian banking group, covered in Boards and Capital's report on the AikGroup investment, and its green finance for İş Leasing in Türkiye.