Luxemburg and Bucharest, 17th February 2011 - The European Investment Fund (EIF), Banca Comerciala Romana and Raiffeisen Bank have signed two guarantee agreements under the Joint European Resources for Micro to Medium Enterprises (JEREMIE) initiative, allowing the two banks to provide up to EUR 315 million of new loans to Romanian small and medium enterprises.

Following the two agreements, Banca Comerciala Romana and Raiffeisen Bank will offer financing at preferential conditions to a broad range of SMEs across Romania looking to invest or expand their business. Within a timeframe of two years, Romanian SMEs will be to access JEREMIE finance with maturities of up to 6 years.

Banca Comerciala Romana (BCR) and Raiffeisen Bank will provide further information on the products available for SMEs under this agreement and how to access loans guaranteed through the JEREMIE initiative.

Commenting on the two operations, EIF Chief Executive Mr. Richard Pelly said “We are pleased to have signed these new innovative agreements under JEREMIE, and to be able to support many hundreds of Romanian SMEs to access new lending, benefitting from better terms and reduced collateral, in these difficult times.”

Dominic Bruynseels, BCR’s Chief Executive Officer, said: “We are a main bank for SMEs in Romania and are striving to support this sector vital to employment and country economic development. It is our objective to provide sustained funding to all good businesses viable on the long term. We stay further open for business, even more so this agreement strengthens and diversifies our funding base for the benefit of Romanian SMEs and the real economy at large”.

Steven van Groningen, Raiffeisen Bank’s CEO stated: “The agreement is great news for our almost 100,000 SME customer base. For the local businesses that came out from the recession this year is the right time to invest, therefore the guarantee agreement under the JEREMIE initiative will provide our clients with additional tools for development.”

The First Loss Portfolio Guarantee (“FLPG”) instrument, signed by the EIF and the two banks under the JEREMIE initiative, provides an adequate risk sharing balance for the two financial intermediaries, further allowing them to supply additional finance to SMEs in Romania.

The two agremeents result from a ‘call for expression of interest’ launched in 2010, which attracted a high level of interest from local financial intermediaries operating in Romania. In order to select the best of the 9 applicants, EIF checked and thoroughly assessed the expressions of interest received, using the EIF’s expertise built up through providing guarantees to financial institutions across Europe over the past 15 years.

 For further information, please contact:

EIF:  David Yormesor, d.yormesor@eif.org,

About JEREMIE 

JEREMIE (Joint European Resources for Micro to Medium Enterprises) is a joint initiative launched by the European Commission (Directorate General Regional Policy) and the European Investment Bank Group to improve access to finance for SMEs in the EU within the Structural Funds framework for the period 2007 - 2013. JEREMIE enables the EU Member States and Regions to put money from the structural funds and also national resources into holding funds that can finance SMEs in a flexible and innovative way. The new initiative aims at developing and fostering the role of entrepreneurship within the EU. 

At the level of the European Union, the EIF has currently signed 8 national and 3 regional Holding Fund agreements. 

In Romania, the JEREMIE Holding Fund is financed from the European Regional Development Fund within the framework of the Sectoral Operational Programme Increase of Economic Competitiveness, Priority Axis 1 “An innovative and eco-efficient productive system” – Key Area of Intervention 1.2. “Access to finance for SMEs”.  

About EIF 

EIF's central mission is to support Europe's small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) by helping them to access finance.  EIF designs and develops venture capital and guarantees 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. The EIF total net commitments to private equity funds amounted to over EUR 4.3bn. With investments in over 300 funds, the EIF is a leading player in European venture due to the scale and the scope of its investments, especially in high-tech and early-stage segments. The EIF commitment in guarantees totaled over EUR 13.5bn in close to 160 operations, positioning it as a major European SME guarantees actor and a leading micro-finance guarantor.

About Banca Comerciala Romana

Banca Comerciala Romana (BCR), a member of the Erste Group, is the most important financial group in Romania, including the companies on the leasing, asset management, private pension and housing bank market. BCR is the No. 1 bank in Romania assets-wise (over EUR 16 billion worth), the No. 1 bank according to the number of clients and the No. 1 bank on the saving and lending segments. BCR offers a full range of financial products and services, through a network of 48 corporate commercial centers and 667 retail branches and agencies located in most of the Romanian cities with a population of more than 10,000 inhabitants. For more information, please visit www.bcr.ro.

About Raiffeisen Bank

Raiffeisen Bank Romania is a top universal bank, offering a complete range of financial products and services to private individuals, SMEs or corporations. The bank has a network of 540 units, servicing 2 million private individuals, almost 100.000 SMEs and over 6.800 medium and large-sized corporations. For more information about the bank please visit www.raiffeisen.ro.