EFSE lends 7 million euro to Credins Bank

TIRANA, July 10ؔhe European Fund for Southeast Europe (EFSE) said on Friday it has signed a framework agreement with Albania’s commercial bank, Credins Bank, for a 7 million euro loan aimed at helping lend to micro and small businesses in the country.
“Apart from boosting confidence in the banking sector and ensuring the continuing flow of lending to the real economy in times of crisis and scarce funding, EFSE’s financing is also expected to have a strong developmental impact as it will help create new jobs and accelerate business growth for more than 1,000 micro and small enterprises,” EFSE chief operating officer Sylvia Wisniwski said in a statement.
Credins Bank ranks among the smaller banks in the Albanian banking system of 16 lenders. It had total assets of 41 billion Lek (317.1 million euro), a loan portfolio of 35.6 billion Lek and 35.6 billion Lek in client accounts at the end of 2008. It has 32 outlets across Albania.
EFSE was founded in 2005 as a successor to a development finance initiative launched by several donors in southeast Europe in 1998. Its shareholders include sovereign donors, national and international financial institutions and the European Commission. The fund – active in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, Serbia, Albania, Bulgaria, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), Ukraine, Moldova and Romania -had an investment portfolio of 532 million euro as of the end of March.