The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is engaging Belarusky Narodny Bank (BNB-Bank) into its Risk Sharing Facility (RSF), a special financing programme designed to share risk in loans provided to small and medium-sized companies.
“Under the RSF agreement, the EBRD and BNB-Bank will each provide up to $10 million to share in the risk of loans to be provided by BNB-Bank to Belarusian companies. It is expected that the EBRD will share up to 50% of the risk on individual loans, allowing BNB-Bank to expand their lending to a greater number of companies, most of which are smaller businesses and would not otherwise have access to EBRD financing,” the EBRD Office informed.
In the context of the RSF, the EBRD also provides a much-needed technical assistance to the financial institutions such as BNB-Bank, to improve SME and corporate lending practices.
BNB-Bank became the first Belarusian financial institution to join the RSF. To date the EBRD has made available nearly €300 million to over 110 small and medium-sized companies through risk-sharing mechanisms through 26 partner banks in 10 countries.
BNB-Bank has been a client of the EBRD since 2011. BNB-Bank has successfully participated in a variety of EBRD financial programs in Belarus, ranging from credit lines to small businesses, a syndicated loan facility and the Trade Facilitation Programme (TFP).
The EBRD is a major investor in Belarus. As of 1 June 2015, the Bank had invested €1.7 billion spread over 70 projects, most of which are in the private sector.
Source: BelTA