OREANDA-NEWS. April 21, 2011. Sviaz-Bank’s portfolio of loans made to small and medium-size businesses reached 6.3 billion rubles. Since the new loan program was launched in September 2009, the total funds the Bank has on loan to small businesses has topped 10.1 billion rubles, reported the press-centre of Sviaz-Bank.

The biggest lenders to small and medium-size businesses are the Bank’s branches in Kaliningrad, Nizhniy Novgorod, Smolensk, Karachaevo-Circassia, Chelyabinsk, and Oryol, and its head office in Moscow.

Most of this segment of the Bank’s loan portfolio are loans made to trading businesses. A significant proportion of outstanding loans has been provided to support the borrowers’ current operations and finance their equipment purchases.

The interest Sviaz-Bank received on loans to small businesses in 2010 accounts for 9.7% of all interest the Bank earned on loans last year.

“Making loans to small and medium-size businesses is among the Bank’s priorities. By now, we have put together a high-quality portfolio of borrowers at affordable risk,” said Sergey Volokhov, Vice Chairman of Sviaz-Bank’s Management Board. “The Bank has made over 900 loans to small and medium-size businesses since the fall of 2009. We expect the Bank’s portfolio of loans to small and medium-size businesses to reach 10 billion rubles toward the end of 2011.”

The Bank today is among the biggest banks on the market of loans to small and medium-size businesses. Its line of loans to small businesses and individual entrepreneurs comprises programs such as Capital for Growth, Working Capital, Loans Against Movables Purchased, Loans Against Real Estate Purchased, and Support for Government Order Fulfillment by Small Businesses.