The European Investment Fund (EIF) and ProCredit Bank in
Bosnia and Herzegovina (PCBH) have signed the first COSME agreement to provide
guarantees for EUR 30 million of new loans to small and medium-sized local
businesses.
The proposed transaction, backed by the EU COSME programme
will allow PCBH to offer new debt financing products with substantially reduced
collateral requirements to SMEs.
The agreement will result in increased credit risk taking
for 300 Bosnian and Herzegovinian SMEs over the period of 3 years.
EIF Chief Executive, Pier Luigi Gilibert said: “EIF is
delighted to be signing the first COSME guarantee agreement in Bosnia and
Herzegovina. Business support and job creation lies at the heart of EIF’s
strategy and this new transaction will contribute to driving growth both in
Bosnia and Herzegovina and across Europe.”
European Commissioner for Internal Market, Industry,
Entrepreneurship and SMEs, Elżbieta Bieńkowska said: “Access to finance
remains an important hurdle for SMEs. Today’s agreement with ProCredit Bank is
an excellent example of how the European Union supports small companies to
finance their investments to boost growth and job creation”.
Amel Agić, Executive Director of ProCredit Bank BiH
emphasised: “We are honoured to be able to provide our clients, SMEs – which we
believe to be the generators of broad social and economic change in the country
– with easier access to the funds they need for their operations. Thanks to
EIF’s support through the COSME programme, ProCredit Bank BiH is able to offer
more favourable lending terms, such as reduced collateral requirements.“
About EIF
The European Investment Fund (EIF) is part of the European
Investment Bank group. Its central mission is to support Europe’s micro, small
and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) by helping them to access finance. EIF
designs and develops venture and growth capital, guarantees and microfinance
instruments which specifically target this market segment. In this role, EIF
fosters EU objectives in support of innovation, research and development,
entrepreneurship, growth, and employment. More information on EIF’s work under
the EFSI is available here.
About ProCredit Bank
ProCredit Bank BiH is a development-oriented commercial bank
specialised in serving small and medium-sized companies. ProCredit Bank BiH is
part of the ProCredit group headquartered in Frankfurt, Germany. ProCredit Bank
BiH is 100% owned by ProCredit Holding, the parent company of the international
ProCredit group. The anchor shareholders of ProCredit Holding AG & Co. KGaA
include the strategic investors Zeitinger Invest and ProCredit Staff Invest
(comprising the investment vehicles for ProCredit staff), the Dutch DOEN
Participates BV, KfW Development Bank and IFC (part of the World Bank Group).
ProCredit BiH fully applies group-wide business principles, such as
transparency in communication with our clients and providing services which are
based on both understanding every client’s needs and on sound financial
analysis.
About COSME
COSME is the EU programme for the Competitiveness of
Enterprises and Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) running from 2014 to
2020 with a total budget of EUR 2.3 billion. At least 60% of the programme will
be devoted to easing access to finance for SMEs in Europe, with two financial
instruments. The COSME Loan Guarantee Facility supports guarantees and
counter-guarantees to financial institutions to help them provide more loans
and lease finance to SMEs. This facility also includes securitisation of SME
debt finance portfolios. The COSME programme also invests through the COSME
Equity Facility for Growth in equity funds that provide risk capital to SMEs
mainly in the expansion and growth stages. The COSME programme builds on the
success of the Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme (CIP)
(2007-2013) which helped to mobilise more than EUR 21 billion of loans and EUR
3 billion of venture capital to almost 400,000 SMEs in Europe.
Businesses can contact selected financial institutions in
their country to access EU financing: http://www.access2finance.eu/
Press contacts:
EIF: David Yormesor
Tel.: +352 42 66 88 346, E-mail: d.yormesor@eif.org
ProCredit Bank BiH: Elma Čavčić
Tel.: +387 33 250 950, E-mail: e.cavcic@procreditbank.ba
European Commission: Siobhan Millbright
Tel.: + 32 22964976, E-mail: siobhan.millbright@ec.europa.eu