- EBRD provides Piraeus Bank’s factoring subsidiary a €10 million trade finance facility
- Piraeus Factoring S.A. is the first factoring company in Greece to be supported by EBRD
- The new facility will finance import and export-oriented SMEs and corporates
Businesses in Greece will benefit from the first €10 million factoring facility in the country provided to Piraeus Factoring by the EBRD under its Trade Facilitation Programme (TFP).
Building on the EBRD’s cooperation with its parent, Piraeus Bank, the facility will enable Piraeus Factoring to further support Greek small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and corporates engaged in domestic and international trade.
Factoring is an important financing tool which can complement traditional bank lending. It proved to be extremely efficient during the financial crisis in Greece, allowing companies to improve their liquidity by receiving immediate working capital financing and thus managing their production cycle.
Piraeus Factoring S.A. provides a full range of factoring services. The company holds a leading position in the Greek market with an annual turnover exceeding €2 billion. The quality of its services has been recognised with numerous awards by the Factors Chain International (FCI) organisation.
The Trade Facilitation Programme of the EBRD began in 1999, with the aim of promoting international trade between its countries of operations, through the form of guarantees and short-term loans to selected participating banks and factoring companies. The programme was first introduced in Greece back in 2016, while over the past two years, Greece has been the most active country under the TFP by number of guarantees issued and to date in 2019 still holds this place.