Oschadbank and the German government's international cooperation company GIZ (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit) have agreed to provide the bank with comprehensive specialized technical and financial assistance aimed at expanding access to financial services for micro, small and medium-sized businesses (MSMEs). The relevant memorandum was signed by representatives of Oschadbank and GIZ during the Ukraine Recovery Conference – URC2024, an international conference on Ukraine's recovery, held on June 11 and 12 in Berlin.

The cooperation between Oschadbank and GIZ will continue within the framework of the EU-Ukraine Trade Association Agreement / EU4Business: SME Recovery, Competitiveness and Internationalization program. GIZ has been successfully implementing this program since 2021.

Oschadbank will receive an assistance package that includes, in particular:

·        technical support on issues such as credit and risk rating, adaptation of services and products for different customer segments, loan portfolio management and ESG risk management tools;

·        support from the German Sparkassenstiftung in implementing an additional grant mechanism;

·        financial and technical assistance for organizing and participating in training programs and competency development activities that will help expand the portfolio of MSMEs and related services;

·        support in the field of international cooperation and involvement of GIZ partners in cooperation with Oschad;

«We are grateful to our international partners who help Oschadbank to increase the volume of credit support to Ukrainian business. We are always happy to participate in such projects and are proud that thanks to this cooperation, we have managed to more than double the bank's MSME loan portfolio during the full-scale war», said Serhiy Naumov, Chairman of the Management Board of Oschadbank.

«We strive to strengthen the institutional capacity of our partner banks to better serve small and medium-sized enterprises. In this way, we facilitate access to banking services for businesses, thereby increasing their resilience and competitiveness», said Hagen Ettner, Co-Director of the EU-Ukraine Trade Association Agreement, GIZ.

 

«Ukrainian small and medium-sized enterprises are the backbone of the Ukrainian economy. It is especially important to support them in difficult times so that they can thrive in the future and be integrated into EU value chains. Thanks to the financial support of the German government, we can make this plan a reality», said Armin Hoffmann, Co-Director of the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement in the field of trade, GIZ.

 

«German partners play an important role in supporting Ukrainian business during the great war. We have been cooperating with the government company GIZ and the German Sparkassenstiftung for many years. I am pleased to say that this cooperation continues and expands. Our clients have already felt the results of this cooperation, and the new project we have agreed on today will also certainly contribute to the fact that Ukrainian entrepreneurs will receive more support at a time when they need it most», commented Natalia Butkova-Vitvitskaya, Member of the Management Board of Oschadbank responsible for micro, small and medium-sized businesses.

 

 

Oschadbank Press Service