October 21 sees Uniastrum open a small business loans center at its satellite office in Yegorevsk. The first of its kind in the Moscow region, the center is open to SB entrepreneurs based in and around Yegorevsk looking for cut-price loans and advice on Uniastrum products.
Uniastrum Bank is pressing ahead with plans to establish small business loan centers in all of Moscow’s administrative districts and is currently looking to open another 5 before year-end 2009. For the record, the Bank launched its first small loans center at 6, Leninsky Prospekt, Moscow, on September 21 this year, followed by a second at its satellite office on Azov Street on October 12.
The decision to open SB loans centers was prompted by a sizeable increase in the applications from business owners. Such centers will enable a larger number of potential clients to obtain advice and apply for credit at a convenient, nearby location, as well as access the loan funds more quickly.
Uniastrum’s new small business loans centers is located at 6a, Prospekt Lenina, Yegorevsk, Moscow region, and is open Monday-Friday 10:00 am – 6:00 pm, closed weekends. Telephone: 642-80-35, 744-04-04
Special care has been taken to ensure that the satellite office’s design and equipment provide a friendly customer-focused environment for attending to the banking needs of both business and retails clients. Services offered include, among others, cash management solutions for households and legal entities, forex transactions, promissory note operations, money transfers via the Unistream system, acquiring, Internet banking, international settlements, issuing and servicing of VISA, EC/MC bank cards, payroll and corporate cards.
A notable feature of Uniastrum Bank’s Yegorevsk satellite office is its convenient location. Yegorevsk district is today one of the Moscow region’s most dynamic growth areas, with a tangible uptrend in manufacturing output and investments accompanied by a conspicuous rise in earnings. A large number of sales and service outlets and small enterprises are situated in Yegorevsk itself, as well as in neighboring towns such as Orekho-Zuevo, Voskresensk, Shatura, Kolomna. In other words, by opening the first small business loans center in Yegorevsk, Uniastrum has made accessing credit easier for local entrepreneurs.
Results for 9M09 show Uniastrum Bank’s small business lending portfolio tipping the scales at Rb 3.4 bn, with growth particularly conspicuous in the third quarter. Over September alone, some Rb 700 mn were given out in SB credits. Meantime, Uniastrum’s most popular SB lending scheme remains its U-Prime initiative, which enables borrowers to take out anywhere between Rb 5 mn and Rb 50 mn for up to 10 years at 17.7% interest on ruble-denominated loans or at 14% for those issued in dollars or euros– rates that, without doubt, make U-Prime one of the most competitive SME lending options available anywhere on the Russian market.
“Our priority task is providing practical solutions that further the growth of small businesses,” says Pavel Neumyvakin, Chairman of Uniastrum’s Management Board. “Our aim is to ensure that our business lending options are easy to access and don’t put a strain on people’s budgets. Opening a SB loans center in Yegorevsk makes it easier than ever before for business owners in the Moscow region to take out credit.”
For more information call or write Olga Kurganova:
744 04 04, ext. 1066
kurganova@uniastrum.com