BPS MSME Senior Loan

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Translated version of this PSD: Polish The EBRD is considering providing a senior loan of up to €25 million to Bank Polskiej Spoldzielczosci S.A. (BPS) for on-lending via member co-operative banks (PCBs) to micro, small and medium-sized entreprises (MSMEs). The MSME loan will assist BPS and PCBs to further expand its lending activities to private sector Polish entrepreneurs and farmers, particularly in rural areas. The MSME loan will increase the supply of medium-term funding in the market and will allow an increasing number of MSMEs and farmers, including the eastern less developed regions of Poland, to have access to bank financing. BPS is a leading Polish co-operative bank and the associating bank for 360 individual co-operative banks with a country wide reach. MSME loan of up to €25 million. €25 million. Categorised FI. BPS and PCBs will be required to comply with the EBRD's Performance Requirements for FIs (specifically, PR2 and 9). The bank will be required to adhere to the EBRD's Environmental and Social Exclusion and Referral Lists and submit annual environmental and social reports to the EBRD. A proposed TC project with substantial TC budget will assist BPS and selected PCBs in building the MSME lending expertise with the objective to develop more coordinated and focused MSME financing competence within BPS and the PCBs (the "Assignment"). After 2 years of TC support, the BPS will be able to further develop small and micro lending operations and continue their lending through the PCBs eventually using their own or external resources. The project supports the bank's objective of transition impact in a country where the "unbanked" population is still about a third of the total working age population and the demand for micro and small business loans is still largely unmet, especially in smaller towns and villages (where SME and micro sectors generate 55% of Polish GDP). Mrs Daria Oleszczuk, daria.oleszczuk@bankbps.pl; tel. +48 22 53 95 360; Mr Piotr Pokropek, piotr.pokropek@bankbps.pl; tel. +48 22 53 95 224;