OREANDA-NEWS. October 13, 2009. The Guarantee Committee of the non-commercial partnership “Regional Guarantee Fund” established by Entrepreneurship Development Department of Volgograd administration meeting was held. The principal item discussed concerned the selection of winners in the competition amongst banks to obtain “Regional Guarantee Fund” guarantees to secure loans disbursed to small enterprises, reported the press-centre of Uniastrum Bank.

After applications from banks were considered and evaluated the Guarantee Committee of the “Regional Guarantee Fund” acknowledged “Uniastrum Bank” as one of the winners. Due to the increase of the guarantee reserves at the expense of the regional and federal budgets the total limits of the “Regional Guarantee Fund” for 2009-2010 to be applied for new lending agreements with the banks winners will be RUR 517 mln.

Year to date the credit portfolio of “Uniastrum Bank” is RUR 3,4 bln. Main growth was seen in the third quarter 2009. In September about RUR 700 mln. were disbursed to small enterprises. The growth of the portfolio was caused mainly by increase in loans disbursement in the regions. The share of the regional portfolio is 82% of the Bank’s total portfolio. SME lending started to actively grow in the Bank’s branch in Volgograd in the middle of 2009. As of the 1st of October 2009 the SME lending portfolio in the branch exceeded RUR 73 mln. It is planned to grow it up to RUR 200 mln. by the end of the year.

At the beginning of 2009 “Uniastrum Bank” launched a new product line for small enterprises for each branch of industry taking into account business requirements, including small shops located near residential buildings, manufacturers of semi-prepared products, medical supplies producers and sellers, etc. Small enterprises are mostly interested in the lending product “U-PRIME” with loan amount of RUR 5 mln. to 20 mln. The key distinctive features of the program are its “recession-fighting” price of 17.7% p.a. to be calculated proceeding from the minimum interest rate, as well as the possibility of getting long-term loans. Considering the fact that loan repayments are calculated on the annuity basis (equal monthly installments), the actual cost of the loan will be 10.7%, and with all the fees it will be 13.4%. Thus, for example, a client will pay Rb 134,000 for a loan of Rb 1,000,000.

“The results of the 3rd quarter 2009 showed that there is a consistent growth in demand for SME lending at “Uniastrum Bank – says Victor Okopny, Head of SME lending Department. To increase the demand “Uniastrum Bank” is actively collaborating with regional funds for small business support, regarding subsidizing loan interest rates and also obtaining the funds’ guarantees in case of insufficient security. Such support will contribute to diverse development of regional small business and will make lending affordable to small business”.