ProCredit Bank and the European Investment Fund have signed a guarantee agreement within the InvestEU program, for supporting Romanian SMEs
Bucharest, 25 October 2023: ProCredit Bank, a bank dedicated to the SME sector, signed with the European Investment Fund (EIF) the guarantee agreement for the InvestEU program, which has two components, Sustainability and Competitiveness. The signed agreement is a significant step in supporting ProCredit Bank commitment to effectively finance its clients, small and medium-sized enterprises from Romania, by offering them guarantees of up to 70% of the financed value.
With the support of the InvestEU Program, funds will be granted to clients that invest in sustainable infrastructures. Thus, green investments in a wide range of projects, covering multiple sectors, from renewable energy and energy efficiency to mobility and agriculture, will be supported. These will target especially the enterprises facing increasing costs of new technologies, with higher perceived risks with regard to the challenges related to climate change and the lack of available funds. The Competitiveness Component aims at facilitating access to funds for SMEs, offering support for the capital required by the enterprises affected by Covid-19.
„In the current economic context, so full of challenges, ProCredit Bank understands the needs for development of the entrepreneurs in Romania and we come to their aid with appropriate funding solutions through the new collaboration with EIF. Starting from 2013, ProCredit Bank has granted its clients loans, in guarantee partnership with EIF, amounting in total to over 430 million Euro. Further, the sustainability component plays a crucial role in supporting ProCredit strategy in the context of climate change and of the decarbonization emergency. This offers us the opportunity to contribute to attenuating the risks related to climate change and to support the transition to a sustainable economy. We are aware of our direct and indirect impact on the environment, as resource consumers, a financing institution and as part of the business sector.”, stated Ștefan Manole, General Manager.
The European Investment Fund supports, through the InvestEU Program, sustainable investments, innovation and creation of jobs in Europe. InvestEU helps with the mobilization of private investments for the main political priorities of the EU: development of a sustainable infrastructure, expanding research, innovation and digitalization companies and facilitation of access to funds for SMEs.
The InvestEU Fund plans to mobilize over 372 billion Euro for investments. In order to reach this objective, 26.2 billion Euro from the EU budget will be allocated as guarantees for investments financed with the support of implementation partners, among which ProCredit Bank, as well. The support offered within this program will increase the financial partners’ capacity to bear the risks related to financing eligible investments, encouraging also the enterprises to access the loans required for such.
From its creation, EIF has provided funds amounting to 3.1 billion Euro, through 119 contracts in Romania, while EIB has offered know-how and funds for 179 investment projects, amounting to 17.73 billion Euro in Romania, starting from 1991.
ProCredit Bank Romania
ProCredit Bank Romania is a member of ProCredit group, which is focused on development and is formed of commercial banks for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). ProCredit Holding AG, based in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, is the parent company of the development-oriented ProCredit group, which consists of commercial banks for small and medium enterprises (SMEs). In addition to its operational focus on South Eastern and Eastern Europe, the ProCredit group is also active in South America and Germany. The company’s shares are traded on the Prime Standard segment of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. The main shareholders of ProCredit Holding AG include the strategic investors Zeitinger Invest GmbH and ProCredit Staff Invest GmbH & Co KG (the investment vehicle for ProCredit staff), KfW, the Dutch DOEN Participaties BV and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. As the group’s superordinated company according to the German Banking Act and as the parent financial holding company of the ProCredit financial holding group, ProCredit Holding AG is supervised on a consolidated level by the German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (Bundesanstalt für Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht, BaFin) and the German Bundesbank.