EBRD and Intesa to approve 30m EUR worth of loans to small enterprises in Serbia

- The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has approved the loan of 30m EUR to Banca Intesa Beograd, which will use the money to grant loans to small and mid-sized enterprises - the creditor announced.

That credit line represents a part of the package worth 100m EUR that the EBRD provided for three members of Intesa Sanpaolo Group in East Europe.

The EBRD's funds will be used for financing investments and the needs for capital funds of private companies that operate in Serbia through short-term, mid-term and long-term loans in amount of up to 2.5m EUR.

- That credit line will make it possible for Banca Intesa Beograd to increase the role in funding private SME and improve the competition in that sector - the EBRD's CEO for Serbia, Hildegard Gacek, pointed out.

Banca Intesa Beograd, which is majority owned by Intesa Sanpaolo Group, is the biggest commercial bank in Serbia. The bank has 1.4m clients, gross balance sum of 3.4bn EUR, total deposits of 1.75bn EUR and total investments of over 2bn EUR.

The EBRD granted the credit line of 10m EUR to that bank in 2009 for the energy-efficiency projects in Serbian companies.

The financial means that the EBRD approved to Intesa Sanpaolo Group include the credit line of 20m EUR for Intesa Sanpaolo Bank in Bosnia and Herzegovina and 50m EUR for CIB Bank in Hungary.