• Тhe second guarantee agreement in favour of Raiffeisenbank under the European Guarantee Fund
• Raiffeisenbank will provide loans on eased conditions
• The European Guarantee Fund is backed by Bulgaria and other EU Member States

The European Investment Fund (EIF) and Raiffeisenbank (Bulgaria) EAD have signed another risk sharing agreement of €65 million to support small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and small mid-caps in Bulgaria. The guarantee is backed by the European Guarantee Fund.

Under the agreement, companies will be able to access financing, backed by a 70% guarantee provided by the EIF on each new loan up to a maximum amount of € 1.1 million per loan until 31 December 2021.

Raiffeisenbank (Bulgaria) and the EIF have significantly strengthen their cooperation during the COVID pandemic by enhancing the risk-sharing portfolio with additional €65 million in support to SMEs. The excellent cooperation with the EIF resulted in almost €450 million fresh funds committed to avert the negative economic effect. By enhancing the scope of products, Raiffeisenbank (Bulgaria) can respond and meet specific clients’ needs.

Background information:

The European Guarantee Fund (EGF) was set up by Bulgaria and other EU Member States to shield companies suffering from the COVID-19 crisis. Using nearly €25 billion in guarantees, the EGF allows the EIB and the EIF to quickly make loans, guarantees, asset-backed securities, equity and other financial instruments available to mostly small and medium-sized enterprises. The EGF is part of the European Union’s recovery package aiming to provide €540 billion in total to boost the healthcare sector and the other parts of the EU economy that have been hit the worst.

The European Investment Fund (EIF) is part of the European Investment Bank Group. Its central mission is to support Europe's micro, small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) by helping them to access finance. EIF designs and develops venture and growth capital, guarantees and microfinance instruments which specifically target this market segment. In this role, the EIF fosters EU objectives in support of innovation, research and development, entrepreneurship, growth and employment.

Raiffeisenbank (Bulgaria) was established in 1994 and is the first green-field investment in the Bulgarian banking sector. Raiffeisenbank is a fully consolidated subsidiary of Raiffeisen Bank International (RBI) AG. RBI regards Austria, where it is a leading corporate and investment bank, as well as Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) as its home market. 13 markets in the region are covered by subsidiary banks. Around 46 000 employees serve 16.8 million customers through approximately 2 000 branches, the vast majority of which are based in CEE.