Saturday, November 10 2018 19:11

ArmInfo. On the initiative of Converse Bank in Armenia, on November 9, for the first time, a seminar of the international professional network of business bankers  SME Banking Club (Ukraine) was held, dedicated to the global  development trends and lending opportunities to SMEs in the field of  agriculture and energy efficient and energy saving energy.

The speakers of the seminar were the founder, CEO of the SME Banking  Club Andrei Gidulyan, who presented the key global trends of SME  banking. Regional Director of SME Banking Club in the CIS and the  Caucasus, Alexey Sayapin, made a presentation on trends in economic  development and SME financing in the region. Seminar participants  were also expected by the reports of representatives of the banking  system of Ukraine - Mikhail Medko, Director of the SME UKRGASBANK and  Project Manager of Agrofabrika (OTP Bank) Ivan Yerko, who shared  their successful experience in lending to small and medium-sized  businesses in the agricultural sector and energy-efficient and  energy-saving areas. Trends in the development of agriculture in  Armenia were presented by the Director for Corporate Business of  Converse Bank Rostom Badalyan.

In an interview with ArmInfo, the founder of the SME Banking Club,  Andrei Gidulyan, noted that the topics of the seminar had been chosen  as a result of preliminary surveys among banks of Armenia for more  relevant topics. "Thus, we determined that today issues related to  digital banking, the agricultural sector and energy efficiency are at  stake," he said. A. Gidulyan emphasized that through holding such  seminars, the SME Banking Club has the opportunity to provide  participants with analytics and research carried out in the region,  to acquaint themselves with the best practices, which as a result  will help improve the efficiency of the process of financing small  and medium-sized businesses in various sectors of the economy.  Moreover, as he noted, the SME Banking Club network aims to establish  contacts between banks from different countries, in particular, on  the basis of the existing analytical base, to present independent  recommendations.

In turn, M. Medko noted that SME Banking Club is the only source on  the Ukrainian market that provides regular analytics and information  about banks that finance the SME sector. "In Ukraine, there is no  separate statistics for this segment. All information is included in  the statistics on legal entities. Therefore, the bank cannot  understand what position it occupies in the market, both in terms of  digital indicators and in terms of technology, solutions and  products. SME Banking Club - this is a very necessary partner ", -  underlined M.  Medko.

R. Badalyan, for his part, noted that the main purpose of holding a  seminar in Armenia is the need to improve the professional skills of  bank employees. "We want to create a platform in which bank  employees, as a result of discussions of topical issues, will be able  to quickly find the right solutions, give an objective assessment and  forecast, and share experience. And in general, this creates an  opportunity for the seminar participants to receive comprehensive  information on the trends in the development of the funding sector  SME, "he stressed.

It should be noted that the SME Banking Club seminar is held in  Armenia in order to provide participants with comprehensive  information on trends

SME development, provides for the exchange of information and  experience on the conditions of lending to SMEs of global, regional,  local banks and financial companies. Since 2010, SME Banking Club  constantly organizes regional and international banking events in  Ukraine, Georgia, Poland, Kazakhstan, and Egypt.