The FINANCIAL — The EBRD is expanding its cooperation and strengthening its support to Intesa Sanpaolo Bank Albania (ISBA) through its unfunded risk sharing facility.
The product is designed to allow the EBRD to share the risk on individual projects across all sectors of the Albanian economy by guaranteeing part of ISBA’s exposures.
The agreement, signed at the EBRD’s Headquarters in London today on the sidelines of the third Western Balkans Investment Summit, includes an increase in the existing risk sharing facility from €10 million to €50 million and its extension by an additional three years. To date, the EBRD has risk shared on three projects with ISBA.
ISBA, a fully-owned subsidiary of Italy’s Intesa Sanpaolo Spa, is the fourth largest bank in Albania by total assets. The bank is a long-standing partner of the EBRD, including in the Women in Business programme and the Albanian Agribusiness Support Facility, according to the EBRD.
Charlotte Ruhe, EBRD Managing Director, central and south-eastern Europe, said: “We are happy to strengthen our collaboration with and support for Intesa Sanpaolo Bank Albania. The expanded risk sharing facility will enable ISBA to step up its lending to the local economy and boost access to finance for local small businesses which are the main engine of sustainable economic growth.”
Silvio Pedrazzi, CEO of Intesa Sanpaolo Bank Albania, added: “Intesa Sanpaolo Bank Albania, part of one of the leading banking groups in Europe, has always seized opportunities to be a leader of the banking industry in terms of cooperation enhancement with important development stakeholders, focusing on innovation and lending in sectors with primary importance to economic development. In recent years we have made continuous efforts in the fields of energy, infrastructure, tourism and agro investments, and in every category of the real economy including small businesses, SMEs and corporates by offering services and products to European standards.”
To date, the EBRD has invested over €1 billion in over 80 projects in Albania.
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