OREANDA-NEWS. December 04, 2012. Sviaz-Bank and the International Analytics Unlimited Bank Club have held a conference on bank mechanisms for making loans to small and medium-sized enterprises (SME). The Moscow Chamber of Commerce and Industry was their partner in staging the event, reported the press-centre of Sviaz-Bank.

The conference was attended by Vladimir Kiyevsky; Vice President of the Association of Russian Banks (ARB); Elena Stratyeva, Vice President of the Russian Microfinance Center; Stanislav Volkov, head of Expert RA’s lending institutions rating department; Daria Suntsova, director of the Opora-Credit (Opora Russia) media holding company’s analytics and research department; Alexander Streletsky, expert Grade 1 of Vnesheconombank’s department of support for small and medium-sized enterprises; Oleg Preksin, ARB executive vice president; Alexander Sergiyenko, project CEO, corporate and strategic development department, MSP Bank OJSC; Boris Moshkovich, director of ABM Partner consulting company; Victor Shpringel, vice president of AKB Investbank OJSC; Angelica Savelyeva, deputy chief, analytics and lending methodologies section, Lending Department of AKB Sviaz-Bank OJSC; and Albina Voronina, head, regional network development department of Globexbank CJSC. Suren Vardanian, General Director of the Moscow Investment and Export Promotion Agency, was the discussion moderator.

The conference participants spoke about a definite decline in market growth rates of corporate lending, including the issue of loans to small and medium-size enterprises. According to Vladimir Kiyevsky, banks are shifting focus toward consumer credit: “Consumer loans take up more than 50% of the total loan portfolio of the banking system.”

What is more, the quality of loans to SME in bank portfolios is deteriorating. Stanislav Volkov attributes this trend to the proliferation of “loan factories,” scoring systems, and standardized products for small business.

Small enterprises’ needs for loans are yet to be met in full. According to Elena Stratyeva, following stagnation in the years of crisis, demand for funding by small businesses and start-ups has grown by 35%. These enterprises’ average borrowings are relatively small, placing them in the category of micro-loans.

Victor Shpringel estimates the microfinancing market at between 50 and 80 billion rubles, while the entrepreneurs’ current demand for microfinancing services reaches at least 300 billion rubles.
Small and medium-sized enterprises’ receipts in the enterprises’ total receipts across the country, said Alexander Streletsky, claim a share of 23.6%.

Government programs to support small businesses and entrepreneurs are launched at the federal, regional, and local levels. According to a study conducted by Opora Russia, around 10% and 7% of the entrepreneurs are involved in regional and municipal programs, respectively.

In 2012, the ministries of economic development, agriculture, health and social development, and education allocated over 36 billion rubles between themselves to support SME owners. Over the last three years, Vnesheconombank earmarked more than 51 billion rubles for these purposes. The banks of the VEB Group (MSP Bank, Sviaz-Bank, and Globex) loaned almost 164 billion rubles to small and medium-sized businesses in 2011.

Sviaz-Bank started making loans to small and medium-sized enterprises in 2009. Today, loans to SME make up 10% of the Bank’s total corporate loan portfolio. According to Angelica Savelyeva, a loan made to an SME owner averages 9 million rubles. Decisions to make loans being taken individually in each case, the Bank’s loan portfolio has a high enough quality. The Bank makes loans for the purchase of liquid and capital asses. Loans made against the security of commercial real estate to be purchased are highest in demand among loan products. To provide various forms of government support to SME, the Bank steps up cooperation with surety funds in subfederal members of the Russian Federation and provides funds for fulfillment of government procurement orders. It also cooperates with MSP Bank to carry out a program of support to SME for purposes of innovation, modernization, and improvements in energy efficiency.