Monday, September 27 2010 21:12
ProCredit Bank is going to intensify its activities on agricultural lending market
ArmInfo. This year, with the support of OeEB (Austria), ProCredit Bank is going to start issuing agricultural loans at all of its branches, Executive Director of ProCredit Bank Bertolt Hertzfeldt said during a press-conference today.
He said that the bank is already issuing agricultural loans at its Artashat branch and in Yerevan's suburbs but in the near future is going to start issuing such loans in Gyumri and Vanadzor as well.
As of today, ProCredit Bank's agricultural loan book totals $2.5mln. AMD loans are provided at 14.5%, USD ones - at 9.5%. According to Hertzfeldt, these are among the lowest rates in this sector. Even though agricultural lending is one of the key priorities of ProCredit Bank, the bank is trying to avoid unnecessary risks and therefore lends money to reliable customers only.
In 2011 the bank is planning to redouble the number of its branches and to enlarge its agricultural and SME lending activities.
ProCredit Bank was established Feb 5 2008 and specializes in micro, small and medium-sized crediting. The bank is especially active in small business crediting due to the efficient technologies of ProCredit Group. In the past two years the bank has obtained 11,000 customers and has opened 9 branches. The founders of the bank are ProCredit Holding AG - 68.46%, EBRD - 16.67% and KfW - 14.87%.