EBRD guarantee to Raiffeisen Bank Ukraine to unlock €100 million of new business finance

• One element of the facility is a programme to enhance the competitiveness of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in the European Union’s (EU) Eastern Partnership countries. Up to 20 per cent of the risk-shared loans will support private MSMEs’ long-term investments in EU-compliant and green technologies, improving their competitiveness on domestic and foreign markets. Eligible sub-borrowers will also receive EU-funded technical assistance upon completion of their investment projects under the bloc’s EU4Business initiative and investment incentives from the USA via the Crisis Response Special Fund. 

In new additions to such risk-sharing agreements, sub-borrowers that have suffered asset destruction, loss or relocation due to the war or those engaged in reintegrating veterans into the workforce are eligible for additional investment incentives. 

Raiffeisen Bank Ukraine is the fourth largest bank in Ukraine and the largest private bank with 6.7 per cent market share by assets as at end 2023. The bank has 320 branches and 1,567 ATMs, servicing 2.65 million active clients offering conventional banking products to corporate, SME and retail customers. The EBRD has long-standing and successful relationship with RBU since 1998. 

The EBRD has deployed more than €4.2 billion in Ukraine since the start of Russia’s full-scale war in February 2022. As well as supporting the private sector, its strategic priorities in the country are to support energy and food security and maintain critical infrastructure. EBRD shareholders have recently agreed to provide a €4 billion paid-in capital increase to enable the Bank to continue investing at current levels in wartime, with the potential for more investments when reconstruction starts.