Uniastrum cuts interest rates on foreign currency loans to small businesses

Effective October 20, Uniastrum Bank is offering small business owners foreign currency credit at 14% APR. Meantime, all other loan conditions remain unchanged.

Thanks to Uniastrum’s latest initiative, it will now be easier for SB entrepreneurs to build up their businesses. As of October 20, Uniastrum clients can borrow at a lower interest rate and access the funds they require on new, favorable terms.

For Uniastrum, it’s an opportunity to further diversify its credit portfolio mix, while at the same time mitigating forex risk. The Bank’s experts believe the cut-price loans will be snapped up by entrepreneurs against the current backcloth of a weakening US dollar.

Data released by RosBusinessConsulting show that, based on H109 results, Uniastrum ranks among Russia’s biggest SME lender. In 9M09, the Bank’s corporate lending portfolio expanded 31% to Rb 28.6 bn, of which Rb 10.2 bn were given out to small and midsized businesses.

Uniastrum kicked off 2009 with the launch of new products specially catering to the needs of small and midsized enterprises such as, among others, convenience stores, semifinished manufacturers, and producers and sellers of healthcare equipment. Small businesses everywhere have wasted little time in taking full advantage of the benefits offered by the Bank’s U-Prime loan program, which enables borrowers to take out anywhere between Rb 5 mn and Rb 50 mn for a period of up to 10 years. What makes U-Prime so unique is its crisis-defying interest rates, which begin at 17.7% for ruble-denominated loans and from 14% for credit issued in dollars or euros.

“Our aim is to keep on developing our product range and be the best on the market when it comes to small business lending options,” says Viktor Okopny, head of Uniastrum’s SB Lending Division. “For us, supporting SB clients is a strategic business priority, not least because small business currently plays a decisive role in the growth of the Russian economy. We, as a bank, are naturally keen to promote this segment and are determined to capture a leadership position in the SB credit market.”

For more information call or write Olga Kurganova:

744 04 04, ext. 1066

kurganova@uniastrum.com

www.uniastrum.ru