ACBA-Credit Agricole Bank and EFSE signed USD 10 mln loan agreement to fund SME and agricultural sector.

ArmInfo. ACBA-Credit Agricole Bank and  European Fund for Southern and Eastern Europe (EFSE) signed a  USD 10 mln loan Agreement in AMD equivalent, stated the ACBA  press office. 

Hakob Andreasyan, the Director general of ACBA-Credit Agricole Bank, mentioned that the borrowed asstes will give an opportunity to the Bank to improve its positions in the banking system of Armenia. " We are glad to improve our cooperation with EFSE and to obtain additional funding in AMD equivalent. This transaction will also give an opportunity to expand its activities in financial support to basic sectors of Armenian economy - agricultural sector and SME," he

stated.

In his turn, Kristof Tiskens, the EFSE  Board Council Chairman accentuated  in his speech that the brightest evidence of the effective cooperation with the Bank is the second loan Agreement.  According to the source, the cooperation of ACBA-Credit Agricole  and EFSE started in 2013, when the Fund provided the Bank with  two loans for SME funding.

To mention, the European Fund for South Eastern Europe  (EFSE) was has been founded by the German Decvelopment Bank (KfW) in December 2005, within the purpose of long term financial aid to small and medium enterprises. The head office of the Fund is located in Luxembourg. 

According to the financial ranking of the Armenian Banks as of October 1, 2016, submitted by ArmInfo, the MSE share in the credit portfolio of ACBA-Credit Agricole forms over 18% or USD 69 mln in monetary formula. The share of ACBA in the total investments mede in the sector exceeds 6%. The agricultural credits portfolio of ACBA is leading as usually - as of October 1, 2016  forming AMD 82 bln ( USD 173,2 mln), or at about 40% of the total credit portfolio of the Bank. The share of ACBA in total agricultural loans also dominates with ist over than 53%.

To remind, ACBA-Credit Agricole Bank  JSC operates in Armenia since 1995. Starting from September 2006, the main shareholder of the bank id the largest European banking group of  Credit Agricole.  The Bank holds the second position in respect to the operational network and number of branches. In respect to main balance indicators the Bank holds its position in TOP-5.