Banks asked the Team Ministry to change the preferential loan rules to SME

Conflictive decision. According to the new rules, only banks with a qualification of at least “A” nationwide can participate in the National Team. The ARB emphasizes that this requirement is contrary to the government of the Government of October 25, 2023, which prohibits the introduction of additional restrictions in the selection of subsidies, if we are talking about compensation for income undertaken in preferential loans.

The ARB believes that the introduction of an additional criterion will limit competition between banks, nor will it allow small regional banks to obtain subsidiating loans for SMEs, which are often their main product. “The disconnection of the banks of this program, on the one hand, violates the competition: customers go to other credit organizations, on the other hand, the service supply also worsens: its price can increase and loan conditions for banking clients get worse,” said the association.

What do the authorities say? The Ministry of Economic Council told Kommersant that the requirements for participants in the competitive selection increased due to the high key rate of the Central Bank and reduce the volume of loans. The “sustainable credit organizations” can now participate in the selection, which can accurately evaluate the capacities of potential borrowers and the economic efficiency of their projects, said the department’s representative. He added that the SME loan in the regions will not suffer, since banks, including participation in competitive selection based on the availability of branches in all subjects.

• According to the new “1781” preferential loan program, only each fifth SME theme can receive a preferential loan. A business of “priority” areas of production, logistics, tourism, science and you can request it. 743 thousand SME are registered in these segments, while there are 6.6 million in total in the country.

• The previous preferential program called “1764” provided loans to SME subjects almost any sphere. He worked according to the formula “key rate minus 8.75% for small and 7.75% for medium -sized companies.”