ACCESS TO FINANCE

EIF funds placement

Financial institutions in Croatia have not applied for the position of the financial intermediary in the EU CIP programme yet, and only HBOR has submitted an application for the funds placement to small and medium-sized enterprises and that will facilitate the access to finance for start-up and business growth. This was said at the seminar "Financial instruments of the CIP - EIP programme'' that was organized by the Ministry of Economy, Labour and Entrepreneurship and the European entrepreneurial network of the Croatian Chamber of Economy, and held in Zagreb, on March 3.

Role of European Investment Fund

Senior Structured Finance Manager at the European Investment Fund Gunnar Mai has presented the role of the European Investment Fund (EIF) in carrying out the programme, as part of the European Investment Bank (EIB). Speaking about the CIP-EIP programme he stressed guarantee programme and the risk capital, of which EUR 175 million of commitments are in 17 funds. In the guarantee programmes, which are free, and in the last year they has more rigorous criteria, the guarantees are granted for working capital and investment loans, and intermediaries with a wider geographical coverage are preferred. There are four business programmes regarding the guarantees, namely: loan guarantees for micro-credits, for equity capital and a new programme - securitization, said Mai and commented on the experience of this program in Germany, Bulgaria, Poland and Latvia.

Priscilla Carpenter of the Credit Cooperatif, a French financial intermediary institution, presented the experience of submitting an application to the EIF and the creation of a new financial instrument out of the funds obtained from the EU.