Opportunity Bank

completed

The project consists of an IFC senior loan of up to Euro 4 million to Opportunity Bank Montenegro (OBM, bank, or the company) for the purpose of financing an expanding loan portfolio. Loans will be made to micro and small business clients in line with OBM’s strategy to finance the growth of micro and small businesses. OBM’s management expects to fund the growth of the loan portfolio partly from externally borrowed funds and partly by mobilizing savings. Opportunity Bank Montenegro (OBM) was founded in April 2002 to finance the growth of micro and small enterprises in Montenegro and to offer safe savings services to the Montenegrin public. OBM is a licensed and regulated full service bank that provides loans to both existing businesses and start-ups. Loan sizes range from EUR 500 to EUR 10,000 for micro-entrepreneurs and generally up to EUR 100,000 (with a present average loan size of EUR 30,000) for small enterprises. Opportunity Bank Montenegro is the successor to Microcredit Montenegro (MCM), which was founded in 1999 as a non-government, non-profit organization offering loans to small-business entrepreneurs in Montenegro. MCM's primary target clients were entrepreneurs and farmers who lacked the financial means necessary to develop their business. MCM has made a total of more than 10,000 loans to trade, service, manufacturing, and agricultural clients. The existing clients of MCM have mostly become clients of OBM, and MCM has ceased to grant new loans.