MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: EBRD Lends OTP Bank Serbia $23m in Local Currency to Boost SME Funding

The UK-based European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) recently agreed to loan Országos Takarék Pénztár (OTP) Bank Serbia, a member of the Hungary-based OTP Bank Group, RSD 2.3 billion (USD 23 million) to increase its “medium-term” funding for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). OTP Serbia’s other products include savings; insurance; securities; and loans tailored for retirees, vehicle purchases, housing expenses, consumption and refinancing debt. As of 2019, OTP Serbia reports total assets of EUR 2.96 billion (USD 3.55 billion).

OTP Bank Group, which was founded in 1949, has 18.5 million private and corporate clients in nine countries in Central and Eastern Europe. For the third quarter of 2020, OTP Bank Group reported return on equity on adjusted net earnings of 19.7 percent and return on assets of 2.1 percent, ending the period with total assets of HUF 22.7 trillion (USD 77.5 billion).

Founded in 1991, EBRD seeks to support a “transition to open, market economies, whilst fostering sustainable and inclusive growth” in 38 countries in Central Asia, Eastern Europe and North Africa. It does this by providing business advice, supporting trade finance, and investing debt and equity in funders of microenterprises and SMEs. With a focus on “the promotion of private and entrepreneurial initiative,” the bank disbursed approximately EUR 11 billion (USD 13.3 billion) to 411 projects during 2020. EBRD’s shareholders comprise 69 countries plus the EU.

By Steffi Ong, Research Associate

Sources and Additional Resources

EBRD project description
https://www.ebrd.com/work-with-us/projects/psd/52379.html

EBRD homepage
https://www.ebrd.com

OTP Bank Serbia webpage
https://www.otpbank.hu/portal/en/GSS/Serbia

OTP Bank Group homepage
https://www.otpbank.hu

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