Kredobank (Lviv) has signed an agreement with the U.S. Development Finance Corporation (DFC) to raise $40 million in guarantees for loans to small and medium-sized businesses in Ukraine.
According to the bank’s statement on Friday, the signing took place in Washington during the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank Group, the guarantee will cover 80% of the loan amount, meaning that the agreement will allow Kredobank to issue $50 million in business loans.
It is specified that working capital loans, investment loans and leasing under the DFC guarantee will be available to companies operating throughout the government-controlled territory of Ukraine, with no more than 300 employees and no more than $15 million. The maximum loan amount for a client is $1.5 million in equivalent. As part of the program, at least 25% of all loans under DFC’s guarantees must be granted to agricultural enterprises.
Jakub Karnowski, First Deputy Chairman of the Management Board of Kredobank, noted that thanks to the risk-sharing programs that have been operating in the bank for more than two years, he managed to provide Ukrainian entrepreneurs with a total of more than EUR 155 million in loan financing.
Kredobank was founded in 1990. Its sole shareholder is the largest bank in Poland – PKO Bank Polski S.A. According to the National Bank of Ukraine, as of June 1, 2024, Kredobank ranked 14th (UAH 57.93 billion) among 63 banks in the country in terms of assets.
In January-September 2023, Kredobank (Lviv) earned UAH 1 billion 509.44 million in net profit, while in the same period of 2022 this figure amounted to UAH 68.45 million, according to the bank’s quarterly report.
According to it, in particular, Kredobank earned UAH 594.65 million in the third quarter, which is UAH 41.6 million less than in the second quarter, but 58 times higher than the net profit for the same period last year (UAH 10.09 million).
According to the report, net interest income, which amounted to UAH 1.45 billion in the first half of 2023, increased by another 61.5% to UAH 2.34 billion in the third quarter, while in January-September 2022 it amounted to UAH 1.48 billion.
In particular, net interest income for the third quarter of this year (UAH 893.44 million) was twice as high as in July-September last year.
It is noted that net fee and commission income increased by 9.3% to UAH 387.47 million in the first nine months of this year compared to last year’s results, but in the third quarter this figure was 5.7% less than in 2022 – UAH 128.3 million.
In January-September 2023, Kredobank increased its reserves by only UAH 23.55 million against UAH 1.24 billion in the same period of 2022.
According to the report, since the second quarter of this year, the bank’s assets have increased by 6.8% and reached UAH 48.72 billion as of September 30. This growth is primarily due to a significant increase in the volume of securities – from UAH 13.51 billion in the second quarter to UAH 16.5 billion in the third quarter. At the same time, the amount of cash and funds with the NBU decreased from UAH 14.71 billion in June to UAH 13.68 billion as of September.
Loans and advances to customers increased slightly compared to the previous quarter – by 3.2% to UAH 12.43 billion, while the amounts due to other banks increased by 12.9% to UAH 4.36 billion.
At the same time, in July-September, Kredobank increased its customer accounts from UAH 39.38 billion in June to UAH 41.48 billion. During this time, the bank’s capital increased from UAH 5.08 billion to UAH 5.83 billion, including retained earnings from UAH 0.91 billion to UAH 1.5 billion.
Kredobank was founded in 1990. Its sole shareholder is the largest bank in Poland – PKO Bank Polski S.A. According to the National Bank of Ukraine, as of September 1, 2023, Kredobank ranked 14th (UAH 52.05 billion) among 64 banks operating in the country in terms of assets.
Kredobank (Lviv) in the second quarter of 2023 increased the authorized capital of the subsidiary company “Credolizing” (Lviv) by UAH 25 million – up to UAH 35 million in order to ensure its further development, according to the quarterly report of the bank.
It is indicated that the state registration of changes in the authorized capital of Credolizing took place on June 26 of this year.
LLC “Credolizing” was founded in August 2021, Kredobank is 100% owner of the company.
According to information on the leasing company’s website, it finished 2022 with a net loss of UAH 2.9 million, while its revenue amounted to UAH 3 million. Last year, the company’s assets decreased from UAH 9.8 mln to UAH 6.9 mln.
As of June 1 of this year, Kredobank ranked 14th among 65 operating banks in Ukraine in terms of assets (UAH 46.854 billion), and its network includes 67 branches in the country. Kredobank is fully owned by PKO Bank Polski SA, the largest systemically important bank in Poland, whose shares are listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange.
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), with partial support from the European Union, is providing Ukraine’s Kredobank with a EUR25m guarantee to cover the risks of new lending, as well as a EUR25m Trade Facilitation Program (TFP) loan for trade finance to Ukrainian clients.
“The new risk-sharing agreement will allow Credobank to reduce the funding gap, and continued access to financing will help companies to remove bottlenecks in trade in food and agricultural products,” – quoted in the message on Wednesday the words of the EBRD Managing Director in the sector of financial institutions Francis Malizh.
It is noted that the new financing will be available to companies operating in such critical sectors as primary agriculture and agricultural services, food processing, transportation and logistics, retail and pharmaceuticals.
Under the risk-sharing agreement, which the two institutions with prior cooperation experience signed on Wednesday in London, the EBRD is providing a EUR25m unfunded risk-sharing instrument that covers 50% of the credit risk on Kredobank’s new financing totaling EUR100m, but not more than 50% of the portfolio. The EBRD guarantee is provided in two equal tranches.
In addition, EUR15m of the total EUR100m portfolio covered by the guarantee will be available to finance long-term investments by micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in technologies and equipment meeting EU standards, including investments in sustainable and green technologies under the EU Eastern Partnership SME Competitiveness Program (EaP SMEC), the EBRD said.
He added that participation in the EaP SMEC program will also allow Kredobank and its clients to receive expert assistance in the form of training and advisory support. Eligible borrowers will also receive grant support in the form of investment incentives upon completion of their investment projects.
The EBRD guarantee is backed by a 50% first-loss coverage guarantee financed by donors as part of the sustainability package. The conclusion of this new agreement increases to EUR468 million the total amount of funding supported by such guarantees since the beginning of the war.
As for the EUR25mn under the Trade Facilitation Program, the lender notes that participation in this program will allow Kredobank to increase its support to Ukrainian exporters and importers.
Kredobank is one of the leading banks in western Ukraine and as of the beginning of June it ranks 14th (UAH 46.85 bln) out of 65 operating banks in Ukraine in terms of assets. Kredobank is fully owned by PKO Bank Polski SA, the largest systemically important bank in Poland, whose shares are listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange.
PKO Bank Polski S.A. has increased a stake in the charter capital of Kredobank (Lviv) to 100% from 99.6293%, the bank has said in the information disclosure system of the National Commission for Securities and the Stock Market. “On April 24, the National Depository of Ukraine reported about the completion of procedures linked to the squeeze-out of ordinary shares in Kredobank,” the bank said.
As reported, amendments introduced on March 23, 2017, to some legal acts in Ukraine to facilitate corporate management at joint-stock companies have introduced such procedures as squeeze-out and sell-out (the forced purchase and sale of participation in share capital) to the country’s legislative environment.
Kredobank was established in 1990. Kredobank ranked 19th among 84 operating banks as of January 1, 2018, in terms of total assets worth UAH 15.171 billion, according to the National Bank of Ukraine.
