Romania's Patria Bank signs 20 mln euro loan deal with IFC to back SMEs

The loan will allow Patria Bank to ramp up lending to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), the bank and IFC said in a joint press release on Wednesday.

Around 50% of the loan will be directed towards supporting women-led SMEs, targeting rural areas of Romania.

"The strategic partnership with IFC helps our vision to support the entrepreneurs from Romania and women entrepreneurs, in particular" said Burak Yildiran, CEO of Patria Bank.

"In the next 5 years our ambition is to double the volume of loans granted to this segment and will focus on supporting female entrepreneurship by facilitating them access
to financing sources," Burak Yildiran added.

A member of the World Bank Group, IFC is a global financial development institution which is focused on the private sector in emerging markets. IFC is present in more than 100 countries. Thus far, IFC has committed some $1.3 billion to supporting the development of the private sector in Romania.

Patria Bank Romania is owned by Patria Bank Group, majority owned by Emerging Europe Accession Fund (EEAF), a private equity fund. Main investors in EEAF are the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the European Investment Fund and other major European institutions.

Patria Bank's shares traded 0.49% higher at 0.0828 lei as at 1342 CET on Thursday on the Bucharest Stock Exchange.

($=0.9417 euro)