EBRD increases unfunded risk-sharing for Moldovan bank maib

• EBRD increases unfunded risk-sharing facility with Moldovan bank maib
• €20 million threshold from 2021 rises by €15 million to €35 million
• Total €35 million of guarantees enable €70 million of new lending by maib to local firms

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has increased the threshold of its unfunded risk-sharing facility to leading Moldovan bank, maib, from €20 million to €35 million, unlocking a total of €70 million of new finance for on-lending to Moldova’s businesses.

Visiting EBRD Managing Director for Ukraine and Moldova Arvid Tuerkner and maib Chief Executive Officer Giorgi Shagidze signed the guarantee increase agreement in Chisinau, in the presence of incoming EBRD Moldova Head of Office Giuseppe Grimaldi and his predecessor, Catarina Bjorlin Hansen, who is taking up a new position in Iraq.

The facility allows the EBRD to share maib’s exposures to local business through unfunded risk participation. Its risk-sharing structure enhances partner banks’ capacity to provide access to finance to companies, mainly MSMEs in Moldova, by unlocking the ability of these financial institutions to channel excess liquidity into new lending using their own funds. 

MSMEs are critical for sustainable growth of the Moldovan economy, accounting for more than 98 per cent of all business in Moldova and employing 60 per cent of the country’s workers. 

“We are delighted to be partnering with maib to help it build on its success with this facility, which enhances the ability of Moldovan banks to support mainly the small businesses that form the backbone of the national economy,” said Arvid Tuerkner. 

“As the country’s leading bank, we’re committed to supporting small and medium businesses. At maib, we believe MSMEs are the real drivers of Moldova’s growth – they create jobs, improve products and services, innovate. That’s why we’re focused on expanding financing, helping entrepreneurs unlock new opportunities and build a stronger, more sustainable Moldova. We are delighted and grateful to EBRD for supporting our vision,” said Giorgi Shagidze, maib CEO.

Maib, Moldova’s largest bank with a more than 30 per cent market share in the country, is a longstanding EBRD client, partnering since 1995. Since 2018, maib’s largest minority shareholder has been a consortium of investors composed of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Invalda INVL, an asset management group in the Baltics, and Horizon Capital, an Emerging Europe-focused private equity fund manager.    

The EBRD is Moldova’s largest institutional investor. To date it has invested nearly €2.8 billion in 188 projects in the country.