Agroinvestbank and EBRD successfully completed the project on SME lending.

By December of 2011, OJSC “Agroinvestbank” with support of European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and technical assistance of BFC has successfully completed a project on lending to small and medium enterprises (SME).”We are very grateful to EBRD for the opportunity of development of SME lending in a wide branch network of our bank. Lending to small and medium businesses is one of the priorities of OJSC “Agroinvestbank” - mentioned the project coordinator of the Bank – Deputy Director of Corporate Banking Khurshed Odinayev.

Experts from the Bank has adopted the new approaches of BFC consultants on organizational efficient procedures of lending, new technologies and procedures were developed. Also, there were conducted many training and practical couching on the different subjects as improvement of customer service of SME and strengthening of risk control and risk reduction at the stage of review for the credit experts, regional managers and internal trainers of the Bank. To date, the Bank has all tools for efficient development of lending to SME enterprises and we look forward to continue using the experience we gained within this project in the future.

Looking back over the past two years we can confidently say that the changes that took place in OJSC “Agroinvestbank” during project period reflect the progress. There was been a full and excellent support provided by the bank for the development of this project and BFC is grateful to management of the Bank and coordinators of this project for their cooperation – said Mike Iwanowski, bank consultant and project manager of BFC. EBRD is one of the main partners of OJSC “Agroinvestbank” in many joint projects that provides with a platform for promoting an efficient and effective banking practice, raising its rating in the banking sector of Tajikistan.

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EBRD began its work in Tajikistan since 1996 and has invested in the economy of the country over 120 million EURO. The total amount of investments in financial sector was around 50 million EURO.

EBRD Board of Directors approved a new project, which intended to support the development of financial sector of Tajikistan, one of the main goals was a promoting a stimulation of small and medium enterprise lending. The project has assumed to provide financial sector of Tajikistan with 50 million US dollars. Technical assistance is provided to the bank partners as part of this project and its initiatives aims to stimulate market activity in the country and promote lending to small and medium sized enterprises.

BFC is one of the leading consulting companies in the field of Microfinance Development, with a depth of experience in Eastern Europe, Asia NIS countries. The head office is in Zurich, Switzerland. BFC employs 50 full time staff in offices located in Armenia, Georgia, Moldova, Russia, and Tajikistan. BFC focuses on providing assistance in the Newly Independent States (NIS) and Asia. Since its inception in 2003, BFC has successfully implemented more than 60 assignments in 33 countries.