More finance for SME leasing in Poland

To support expanding its operations, the EBRD is extending a €15 million loan to Bankowy Fundusz Leasingowy, a subsidiary of PKO Bank Polski, Poland’s largest retail bank. The leasing company focuses on serving small and medium-sized enterprises and its access to the PKO BP network should make financing more widely available to SMEs throughout Poland. The loan comes under the leasing window of the EU/EBRD SME Finance Facility.

Malgorzata Kolakowska, Director of the EBRD office in Poland, said projects like this will help small businesses in the country obtain better access to much needed medium-term leasing. She underlined that the EBRD was pleased to expand its relationship with PKO BP Group with this second joint project.

Witold Marszalek, Board Member of Bankowy Fundusz Leasingowy, said his bank’s participation in the EU/EBRD facility was part of a wider programme to intensify and expand its activities in this sector. The loan granted by the EBRD shall broaden the available sources of financing and decrease barriers to access financing for small and medium-sized enterprise, which have a crucial role for the entire economy.

The EU/EBRD SME Finance Facility, a joint programme of the European Commission and the EBRD, supports the development and growth of entrepreneurs by facilitating their access to finance. The Bank has committed €700 million, of which €495 million has been disbursed by local banks and leasing companies via 19,000 loans and leases. The EC has committed €130 million in grant financing and for technical assistance since the facility’s launch in 1999 under the Phare Programme, the main channel for the EU’s financial and technical cooperation with accession countries. Phare’s overall budget is about €1.5 billion a year.

(Source: EBRD)

Fundraising in Poland