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EBRD expands support to Kazakh SMEs
$10 million loan to Alliance Bank will help it extend lending operations
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development is expanding its support
to small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in Kazakhstan through a $10
million loan to Alliance Bank. The loan provides Alliance with long-term
finance as well as supporting its efforts to serve businesses around the
country, on-lending sums of between $200,000 and $750,000 to privately owned
companies with fewer than 150 employees. At least 30 per cent of the facility
is earmarked for companies outside the financial capital, Almaty.
Alliance Bank is also joining the EBRD’s grain receipts programme, becoming
the seventh Kazakh bank to be trained in lending on security of grain
receipts. This will increase competition among local banks in this business
sector. Alliance Bank will receive a credit line for $5 million under this
programme.
Alliance Bank was founded in 1993 as a regional bank. Since then it has become
a prominent Kazakh bank with a nationwide network of 16 branches and 56
outlets and currently ranks fifth in Kazakhstan by total assets.
The latest agreements broaden Alliance Bank’s relationship with the EBRD. Last
December, EBRD also agreed a $10 million trade finance programme line to
Alliance Bank. Alliance also became a partner in the EBRD’s Kazakhstan Small
Business Programme umbrella with a separate $5 million loan, signed in January
2006, to be used for financing micro and small enterprises, including rural
and agricultural business.
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