DenizBank, the intermediary owned by Dexia has a special focus on SMEs served by an extensive network of some 246 branches. This project is the first transaction with DenizBank, the sixth largest private bank in Turkey, and will allow its clients to benefit from the availability of long-term funding in local currency, which remains a scarce resource in the market, as well as loans in USD or EUR.
Vice-President Matthias Kollatz Ahnen, who oversees the EIB’s lending activities in Turkey, stressed that Turkish SMEs are a real success story and the driving force of Turkey’s fast-growing economy thanks to their entrepreneurial skills, technical know-how and expert manpower. He added that the EIB is an important institution that assists entrepreneurs across the country and that this project will further improve the access of SMEs to tailor-made finance.
The financing is consistent with EU policies on regional and SME development and underlines the EIB’s continued commitment to supporting Turkey’s EU accession objectives.
Global loans are credit lines to financial intermediaries – EIB partner banks that on-lend EIB funds under their own management, at their own risk and on their terms but reflecting the EIB’s favourable lending conditions. This type of lending is used by the EIB to finance small and medium-sized projects involving a total investment greater than EUR 40 000 but smaller than EUR 25 million.
This latest EIB loan builds on the Bank’s strong support for the SME sector in Turkey. So far, the Bank has committed credit lines worth over EUR 1.6 billion to eight intermediary banks, contributing significantly to the development of the domestic banking sector in Turkey as well as creating additional employment and earning much needed foreign currency for the local economy.