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EBRD equity creates Opportunity for Serbian micro-businesses
€3 mln helps Opportunity Stedionica conversion into commercial bank
The EBRD is paying €3 million for an 18.2 per cent equity stake in Opportunity
Bank Serbia – a dedicated microfinance bank which will be set up as a result
of conversion of Opportunity Stedionica, a Serbian micro-finance institution.
Opportunity Stedionica currently operates as a savings bank. Following the new
Law on Banks adopted in December 2005, the institution will apply to the
National Bank of Serbia for a full banking license. As and when the licence is
granted (which is a condition of the EBRD investment), owners of micro and
small businesses will benefit from an increased range of financial services
and products allowing them to build new or develop existing businesses.
The EBRD investment will be provided under the recently established €75
million EBRD Micro, Small and Medium Sized Enterprises Finance Framework for
the Western Balkans and Croatia, which aims at facilitating access to finance
for smaller business clients.
Chikako Kuno, EBRD Director of Group for Small Business, said this investment
reiterates the Bank’s commitment to supporting the micro-business sector,
which is key to fuelling economic growth. To date across its countries of
operations, the EBRD has committed over €620 million to 80 financial
institutions, supporting more than 1 million micro and small businesses
including 14 specialised micro-finance banks.
Other investors include Opportunity Transformation Investments, part of
Opportunity International US, a not-for-profit corporation set up to create
employment and boost income for poorer communities through small and micro
businesses. FMO, the Netherlands Development Finance Company, and Oikocredit,
a Dutch Development Cooperative which is one of the world’s largest financiers
of the microfinance sector, will also invest.
Opportunity Stedionica provides financial services to over 3,000 clients
throughout 25 communities in Vojvodina, as well as in Central and South
Serbia. With its head office in Novi Sad, the institution has offices in
Belgrade, Subotica, Zrenjanin, Sombor, Kragujevac, Nis, Jagodina, Krusevac,
Pirot, Leskovac and Vranje.
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