EBRD unlocks €50 million for Moldovan small businesses with new guarantee to OTP Bank

• EBRD extends new €25 million portfolio risk-sharing guarantee to OTP Bank Moldova
• Bank facility to unlock up to €50 million in new lending to MSMEs, including women- and youth-led businesses and firms outside the capital
• EU-supported facility builds on Moldova’s first portfolio risk-sharing deal with OTP Bank, signed in 2024

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is providing a new unfunded portfolio risk-sharing facility of €25 million to OTP Bank Moldova, one of the country’s systemically important banks. The EBRD guarantee will unlock up to €50 million of new lending to micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in Moldova by partially covering the lender’s credit risk on a portfolio of loans up to this amount.

The new guarantee builds on the success of the EBRD’s previous portfolio risk-sharing agreement with OTP Bank, signed in November 2024. By sharing credit risk on newly originated loans, the EBRD will help OTP Bank free up capital and expand its lending to local businesses, financing private-sector growth.

The facility is supported by partial first-loss risk cover provided by the European Union’s (EU) European Fund for Sustainable Development Plus (EFSD+) Financial Inclusion programme, which promotes sustainable investment in EU partner countries. This support is designed to help address a key market gap by enabling partner banks to expand lending using their own balance sheets, while managing risk and optimising capital use under tightening regulatory requirements.

OTP Bank will use the EBRD’s guarantee to provide credit to MSMEs, including underserved groups such as women- and youth-led businesses and enterprises in regions outside the capital city, significantly improving their access to finance. In addition, at least 20 per cent of the covered loans will be directed to green investments.

OTP Bank Moldova, part of Hungary’s OTP Bank Group, is one of Moldova’s four systemically important banks. It has been an EBRD client since 1996 and has channelled €90 million to local borrowers under EBRD financing programmes since 2013.

The EBRD is Moldova’s biggest institutional investor. To date, it has invested more than €3.3 billion in 201 projects across the country.