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Kosovo’s Kasabank gets boost from EBRD and EAR
A €2 million EBRD loan to Kasabank, a locally owned bank in Kosovo set up
shortly after the end of war in the province, will be complemented by
technical cooperation funds from the European Agency for Reconstruction.
Kasabank is a symbol of hope for the economic recovery and regeneration of
private entrepreneurship in Kosovo. In a post-conflict economy which only a
few years ago ran entirely on cash, the banking sector had to be created from
scratch. Kasabank, the brainchild of a group of successful local entrepreneurs
– with Factor Banka, a Slovenian bank, as a minority shareholder – is the
youngest of seven banks serving an emerging private sector.
Ranking third among the province’s banks, with dynamic growth and a market
share above 11 per cent – putting it ahead of all other domestically owned
banks – its aim is to provide a wide range of quality services to the private
sector in Kosovo as a serious competitor to the international players in the
market.
Kasabank will use the EBRD’s loan to enhance its lending to small and
medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The accompanying technical cooperation funds
will help improve lending procedures and enhance operations in line with best
banking practice. The project will contribute to the institutional
strengthening of a locally owned bank and promote competition with the
foreign-owned banks operating in the local market, said Kenji Nakazawa, Head
of Office responsible for the EBRD’s operations in Kosovo. It will also help
meet the growing demands of much-needed finance from local entrepreneurs to
build or expand their businesses, he added.
The European Commission through European Agency for Reconstruction has
supported the banking system of Kosovo and continues to support its further
development. “It is important that additional funding is made available for
loans to help the development of the small and medium-sized enterprises which
constitute a vital element in ensuring the growth of the Kosovo economy and
the creation of viable jobs,” said Thierry Bernard-Guele, Head of the European
Agency's Operational Centre in Pristina.
This is the first direct loan that the EBRD has made to a Kosovan financial
institution. As part of the international consortium that created ProCredit
Bank (initially called Micro Enterprise Bank), the first bank to open in
Kosovo after the conflict, in 2000, the EBRD has been involved in Kosovo’s
regeneration and has helped back loans to 27,000 small businesses. The EBRD
has also invested in a number of local companies through the Kosovo
Reconstruction Equity Fund, set up in 2001. The loan to Kasabank takes the
EBRD’s contribution to the economic recovery of Kosovo a significant step
further. It also represents the first project signed by the Bank under a
recent agreement with the United Nations Mission in Kosovo to help promote
private-sector growth in the province.
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