MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Symbiotics Invests $7.5m in Evocabank of Armenia for MSMEs

Evocabank of Armenia recently gained access to USD 7.5 million from Switzerland-based Symbiotics to on-lend to micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) with goals including to boost market competition and job creation. Symbiotics sourced the funds from its Luxembourg-based MSME Bonds platform.

Established in 1990, Evocabank is a commercial bank offering loans and deposits in a “mobile-first format.” As of December 2021, the bank reported 369 employees operating 14 branches with total assets of approximately AMD 245 billion (USD 551 million). The bank is 96-percent held by Ms. Mareta Gevorkyan and 4-percent by twelve other individuals.

Founded in 2004, Symbiotics provides for-profit investment intermediary and business services to investors in and practitioners of MSME development as well as lenders to low- and middle-income households. During 2020, the company issued new investments totaling USD 991 million, resulting in a direct portfolio of USD 2.4 billion invested in 291 financial institutions across 75 countries. The firm also performs compliance checks, credit risk ratings, social responsibility ratings, and financial and operational advisory reporting.

By Saulius Simonas Ramanauskas, Research Associate

Sources and Additional Sources

Evocabank press release
https://www.evoca.am/en/news/banking/symbiotics

Evocabank homepage
https://www.evoca.am

Symbiotics homepage
https://symbioticsgroup.com

Previous MicroCapital brief on Symbiotics
https://www.microcapital.org/microcapital-brief-symbiotics-to-place-105m-in-debt-for-pensioenfonds-detailhandel-in-microfinance-sme-finance-in-emerging-markets

Did you know that MicroCapital publishes the MicroCapital Monitor newspaper each month? Find out more at https://www.microcapital.org/products-page/.