Credit Europe Bank approaches SMEs through regional centres

Credit Europe Bank, the former Finansbank, intends to attract 6,000 clients this year on the segment of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and by opening six regional centres for SMEs. “We want to be one of the top three banks on the segment of financial services for SMEs. This is the reason why we have created a special subsidiary for SMEs in Bucharest and soon we will open another two in Constanta and Iasi. We intend to have seven such regional centres,” stated Cemal Yildirim, deputy vice-president of the SME division within Credit Europe Bank. According to the bank’s criteria, companies that have an annual turnover of less than one million euros fall into the SME category. “We currently have 15,000 clients among small and medium-sized enterprises, among which 3,500 clients have active credits. By the end of the year, we want to be covering risks totalling 125 million euros and to attract 6,000 new clients,” said Yildirim. The bank wants SMEs to account for 15% of the assets of Credit Europe Bank Romania in 2007.