On 5 August 2022 United Bulgarian Bank (UBB), part of the Belgian financial group KBC, and the National Guarantee Fund (NGF), part of the group of the Bulgarian Development Bank, signed their tenth agreement for issuance of guarantees under loans, provided for financing of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (SME). The joint programme aims to support entrepreneurship and will offer guarantees of total value exceeding BGN 192 million. The Agreement provides an opportunity for UBB to construct the largest portfolio under the programme, as clients of the Bank will be able to use loans of over BGN 400 million.

The main advantages of the guarantee scheme are the preferential prices and the alleviated collateral requirements, as compared to the standard ones, applied by the Bank, as well as the opportunity of guaranteeing loans for financing of EU projects.

The said Agreement was signed by Desislava Simeonova, Executive Director SME at UBB, Tatyana Ivanova, Executive Director Marketing and Distribution - Retail Banking at UBB, Todor Todorov, NGF Executive Director and Deyan Kalapchiev, NGF Board of Directors’ Member.

„UBB has long-standing experience in the partnership with the National Guarantee Fund, as to date it has successfully supported 2800 SME clients with over 3300 loans. The new guarantee programme allows us to continue this line of behaviour and to prove that the Bank is a loyal and reliable partner. We intend to once again focus on financing clients, who have a clear development strategy for their future and who adapt their businesses to the dynamically changing economic environment. This programme will also support the financing of series of projects under new grant schemes, to be launched now and over the next year. Investments in renewable energy sources are also among the priority domains of both the programme, as well as of the Bank “, commented Desislava Simeonova, Executive Director SME at UBB.

„Our new guarantee programme is yet another step in support of the Bank’s mission to promote the sustainable development of SMEs through providing equal access to financial resource. We are pleased with the exceptionally high interest in the programme and we highly appreciate the trust of our long-term partners. Our mutual work affirms our leading role as a guarantor of small and medium-sized businesses in this country“, added Todor Todorov, NGF Executive Director.

UBB has the largest realized portfolio among all commercial banks on the market and has concluded another 5 agreements with the Fund for financing SMEs, as well as 4 agreements for work under the Rural Regions Development Programme. The present guarantee scheme is intended for existing and start-up micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, as the guarantee covers up to 50% of the extended loans’ amount. To date the Bank has provided guaranteed loans of total amount exceeding BGN 930 million.

Admissible under the scheme are investment, working capital loans and bank guarantees in Bulgarian leva and in euro. UBB offers preferential terms and conditions, as well as alleviated collateral requirements and also an additional opportunity for combining it with other guarantee schemes.