OREANDA-NEWS. On April 02, 2009 the International Bank Club Analytics Unlimited held a roundtable “Development of Small and Medium-Size Business as an Anti-Crisis Tool to Support the National Economy”, reported the press-centre of Sviaz-Bank.

Present at the roundtable were the Club’s guests, Gernot Kulis, Coordinator of the Small Business Support Fund, EBRD, Nikolai Piletsky, Chief of the Small Business Loan Department, Transcapitalbank, Natalia Golovanova, Deputy Director of the Small and Medium-Size Business Loan Department, Moscommerzbank, bank expert Anna Malysheva, and Svetlana Konchits, Chief of the Corporate Business Department, Belagroprombank, Minsk.

The roundtable participants discussed various aspects of support for, and development of, small and medium-size business in the conditions of the financial crisis, reviewed existing programs of government and nonprofit organizations to support it, in particular, sources of funding for commercial banks to support small and medium-size business, and methods of assessing the solvency of borrowers of the SMB sector, and managing and controlling credit risks.

Lending to start-up projects, particularly important today when large numbers of professionals capable of starting their own businesses, but lacking start-up capital, are made redundant in the market, was named among the most serious problems of SMB financing. The roundtable participants agreed that venture fund programs are a realistic lending instrument for projects started from scratch.

The roundtable was attended by 60 leading bank experts and media representatives.