High demand for factoring, especially among local SMEs
A loan of up to €40 million by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) will allow Raiffeisen FACTORING d.o.o. to extend financing in the form of factoring to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and corporate clients in Croatia.
The EBRD loan is the first credit line to a factoring company in Croatia since the approval of the new factoring law in August 2014 which was supported by the EBRD’s technical consultancy funded from the EBRD Shareholder Special Fund.
Increasing the availability of finance to the real economy is crucial for Croatia to return to vibrant growth. Factoring represents a suitable financial product to address companies’ needs for working capital.
Raiffeisen FACTORING is one of the leading players in the Croatian market and continues to introduce new products in order to expand its client base. The EBRD has supported the company with two previous loans totalling €30 million.
Vedrana Jelušić Kašić, EBRD Director for Croatia, said: “We are pleased to expand and deepen our cooperation with Raiffeisen FACTORING. The new financing complements our efforts and benefits from the support provided by the new factoring law. The need for funding is particularly acute in less-developed areas of Croatia and we are very happy that addressing this issue will represent a special focus of activities under the new EBRD loan.”
Igor Fišer, President of the Board of Raiffeisen FACTORING, added: “For 15 years Raiffeisen has been working closely with local and international development institutions with whom we share the same goals. The new credit line is a successful continuation of our cooperation with the EBRD, emphasising the import cooperation between commercial and development banks. Raiffeisen FACTORING will allocate the new funds to small and middle sized enterprises which are the drivers of increased competitiveness and growth.”
The EBRD has been active in Croatia as an investor since the country’s independence and has invested some €3.2 billion in more than 170 projects to date. The Bank’s activities include all sectors of the economy and are especially strong in infrastructure, corporate, financial institutions and energy.
