Romanian lender targets 8% increase in loans for SMEs

Banca Transilvania, the third largest bank in Romania by assets at end-September 2014, wants to increase by 8% this year its loan portfolio for small and medium enterprises (SMEs), to EUR 2.42 billion. Last year, the lender financed this segment with about EUR 1.53 billion, a level close to the total stock held in 2008, of EUR 1.42 billion. The bank granted 25,000 new loans to SMEs last year, according to Andrei Dudoiu, deputy general director with Banca Transilvania. Of these, it granted more than 23,800 loans in Romanian currency, worth EUR 1.36 billion and over 1,300 loans in the European currency, worth EUR 163.7 million. editor@romania-insider.com