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Polish SMEs to receive finance from Bank Zachodni SA
EBRD facility extended to fourth financial intermediary in Poland
Bank Zachodni SA will receive a long-term credit line of €10 million for on-lending to Polish small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) under the EU/EBRD SME Finance Facility backed by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and EU Phare. Bank Zachodni is a full-service bank with headquarters in Wroclaw, in southwest Poland, and serves both individ-ual and institutional customers. The bank, in which Allied Irish Bank Group has a majority shareholding, is the sister bank to Wielkopolski Bank Kredytowy SA, which was the first bank to be included in the Facility.
The SME Finance Facility was established in 1999 to allow participating banks in EU acces-sion countries to incorporate SME lending as a normal part of their ongoing business activities.
"By providing financing to local intermediaries, the EBRD supports Bank Zachodni's com-mitment to small and medium-sized enterprises in Poland and strengthens the development and diversification of the Polish financial sector, " said Rogers LeBaron, a Financial Institutions Director at the EBRD.
The credit line facility will be complemented by Technical Cooperation financing aimed at developing a sustainable SME lending programme, as well as a grant from EU Phare to help cover the costs of developing the programme.
EBRD-backed SME programmes and banks have made more than 100,000 loans totalling $800 million across central and eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States. In Poland the EU/EBRD SME Facility has been extended to three other banks so far.
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