EBRD lends EUR 300 million to National Bank of Greece subsidiaries in Bulgaria, Romania and Serbia

Newsroom 06/12/2010 | 16:50

The EBRD has approved three credit lines worth a total of EUR 350 million for the subsidiaries of National Bank of Greece in Bulgaria, Romania and Serbia for on-lending to businesses in their respective countries. United Bulgarian Bank will receive EUR 150 million, Banca Romaneasca will receive EUR 100 million, and Vojvodjanska bank will get EUR 100 million of new funding from the EBRD.

The EBRD financing will provide the three banks with medium term senior funding to support their funding base, diversify and extend the maturity of their liabilities and enhance their lending to the economy.

This package of loans, to be provided in two equal tranches, is part of the Joint International Financial Institutions Action Plan and follows other similar facilities offered over the past 18 months to the subsidiaries of the major Western European strategic banking groups engaged in the region.

Under the Joint IFI Action Plan, unveiled in February 2009, the EBRD, the World Bank Group and the European Investment Bank (EIB) pledged to provide EUR 24.5 billion over two years to support the economies of eastern Europe via the banking sectors.