On 20 December 2017, the EBRD and Ipoteka Bank signed loan agreements, the Uzbek bank said in a statement.

The signing ceremony was attended by the management and employees of Ipoteka Bank and representatives of the EBRD delegation led by Nick Tesseyman, Managing Director for Financial Institutions at the EBRD, as well as representatives of the media.

Chairman of the Board of Ipoteka Bank Omon Musaev and EBRD representative Nick Tesseyman inked the documents.

Within the agreements, the EBRD will open a credit line for US$25 million to support small businesses and US$5 million to facilitate trade.

These agreements will allow Ipoteka Bank through the extensive network of its branches located in all regions of the Republic of Uzbekistan, to direct financial resources of the EBRD to the most popular small business projects across the country, contributing to development of this sphere and achievement of their goals.

At the same time, agreements on trade financing will allow Ipoteka Bank to develop trade relations between enterprises of the country and abroad, contributing to this development of regional integration and correspondent banking services.

The bank said that 70% of loans will be directed to finance projects in the regions of Uzbekistan and 30% in Tashkent. The maximum amount of funding for small business projects is US$1.5 million per borrower.

Ipoteka Bank is one of the leading financial institutions and is one of the four largest banks in the Republic of Uzbekistan. Based on the financial indicators of Ipoteka Bank for 11 months of this year, it can be noted that the bank’s net assets made up 12.9 trillion soums, which rose by 25.7%.

Credit investments of the bank made up 10 trillion soums (+17.8%). Total capital of the bank exceeded 1.2 trillion soums, which rose 73.1% compared to 1 January 2017.