Bucharest, 25 January 2018 – Banca Comercială Română (BCR) has approved over 1,300 pre-financing loans within the StartUp Nation program, of which approximately 500 have already been approved by the National Credit Guarantee Fund for SMEs (FNGCIMM). Of the over 1,300 loans, 1,278 have already been sent for approval to FNGCIMM. In this context, over 200 entrepreneurs that applied with BCR for financing granted by the bank under the program have already received the money necessary to develop their businesses, most of them coming from IT, manufacturing and creative industries.

"We are aware that there are very big expectations with this program, so the BCR teams involved have made efforts to respond in a timely manner to all the challenges of the project. As any project just starting up, we are trying to optimize each process and collaboration stage with the institutions involved, but what we are particularly pleased with is the effervescence of entrepreneurs from the StartUp Nation program. Their creative energies represent the resource Romania needs to develop in the future, a resource that we are trying to harness and support. We will continue to do everything necessary for people with initiative in Romania can feel they can have in BCR a real and reliable partner", Lucian Mâțu, executive director for Micro Products and Segments, has stated.

Currently, BCR focuses its efforts on the thorough analysis of procurement files submitted by entrepreneurs to make sure that, when the loans are used, customers will have the project documentation properly prepared. Businesses that have been implemented the fastest to date are those in which entrepreneurs have chosen to accept the FNGCIMM's simple guarantee solution, with a commission of 3.8%. For now, funds allocated by the Ministry for the Business Environment, Trade and Entrepreneurship within the StartUp Nation program and in BCR accounts are sufficient to cover the implementation needs for the following period.

After acceptance in the StartUp Nation government program, beneficiaries have available at BCR two products especially designed by the bank to support the business: The free StartUp Nation account and the StartUp Nation pre-financing loan:

• Free StartUp Nation account includes:
  • ZERO RON for opening and the monthly management of the account;
  • ZERO RON for managing the debit card;
  • ZERO RON for managing the Internet Banking service
  • ZERO RON for transactions performed via Internet Banking - only TransFond/NBR commissions will be paid;
  • ZERO RON for receipts through intra-bank  (BCR-BCR transfer) and inter-bank (transfer from other banks in Romania - BCR) payment orders
  • ZERO RON for the BCR Alert Plus service, through which the beneficiary receives an SMS or e-mail for receipts and payments made into/from the BCR current account
  • 23% discount for the Electronic Signature Package

• The StartUp Nation pre-financing loan, of up to 100% of the value of non-reimbursable financial allocation obtained under the program, which includes:
  • Interest rate: 3.5%/year, the best among the banks participating in the program;
  • Total loan commissions: up to 1% of the loan value, payable in three installments, plus one grace installment;
  • Guarantees: 80% of the loan value, guaranteed by the National Credit Guarantee Fund for SMEs (FNGCIMM) and, additionally, guarantee with the goods purchased within the program; mortgage on the current accounts opened with BCR; suretyship;
  • 2.48% commission for FNGCIMM;
  • ZERO costs for the verification of expenses in the field;
  • Period for loan analysis and resolution: maximum 20 days from loan application, but with an estimated average answer time of approximately 5 days.

Financing granted by BCR through the StartUp Nation program is available without setting up a collateral deposit. It should be mentioned that BCR also finances, through the StartUp Nation package, VAT, if it represents an eligible expense within the business plan. The commissions applied by the bank are up to 1%, payable in three monthly installments, plus one grace installment, as well as the guarantee commission charged for the National Credit Guarantee Fund for SMEs (FNGCIMM), from 3.8% to 2.48%.

The free Start-Up Nation account is available in BCR branches and may be accessed by both those who have qualified in the program, for preparation for granting government funds or bridge loan, and those who have been rejected, but do not want to give up the idea to develop a business.

Beyond the strictly financial offer, BCR proposes entrepreneurs a unique financial education package, through which it makes available educational materials, which will help them understand the steps that should be taken when a business is started. BCR will also organize special courses in branches across the country, which will aim at familiarizing the entrepreneurs with elementary accounting notions, as well as with concepts such as understanding the bank's role in the capitalization of companies, identification of financial needs, types of funding and guarantees, as well as strategies for smart financial decisions.

BCR currently has 514 territorial units, one of the best-represented banking networks in the whole country, both in urban areas and especially in rural areas.

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Banca Comerciala Romana (BCR), member of Erste Group, is the most important financial group in Romania, including universal bank operations (retail, corporate & investment banking, treasury and capital markets), as well as profile companies in the leasing market, private pensions and housing banks. BCR is the No. 1 bank in Romania in terms of assets (EUR 14.8bn), the No. 1 bank in terms of the number of customers and the No. 1 bank in terms of saving and lending segments. BCR is the most valuable financial brand in Romania, in terms of customer confidence and the number of those for whom BCR is the main banking institution.

BCR provides a full range of financial products and services, through a network of 22 business centers and 18 mobile offices dedicated to companies and 514 retail units located in most cities across the country with over 10,000 inhabitants. BCR is the No. 1 bank in Romania in the market of bank transactions, BCR customers having available the largest national network of ATMs - over 2,000 automatic teller machines and POS - 15,200 card payment terminals to merchants, and complete services of Internet banking, Mobile banking, Phone-banking and E-commerce. 

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Erste Bank is one of the main providers of financial services in the east of the European Union. 46,700 employees serve 15.9 million customers within 2,700 subsidiaries in 7 countries (Austria, The Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia). At the end of the third quarter of 2016, Erste Group owned total assets worth EUR 206.8bn, a net profit  of EUR 1.18bn, and an index of common equity tier 1 (Basel 3 fully implemented) of 13.2%.

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BCR - External Communication

Cătălin Ioniță, e-mail: georgecatalin.ionita@bcr.ro

This information is also available on our webpage, at: www.bcr.ro

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