Zhivko Todorov, CEO of the Bulgarian Development Bank (BDB), INSME Member, released an interview to the Monitor Information Agency on the BDB’s work during the pandemic and its crisis. Regarding its impact on the bank’s activities, he stated that “The pandemic has made its mark on the entire global economy, and this could not have missed the banking sector. Despite the crisis, the BDB managed to preserve its liquidity and remains one of the best-capitalized banks in the country with a capital adequacy ratio of 34.29% (compared to 22.36% for the banking system). The bank’s liquidity coverage is 635%, with a sector average of 283%, which is a testament of its solid foundation. The generally high liquidity and capital adequacy of our banking system have helped people to remain calm and did not allow the crisis to engulf the financial sector.
When asked which economic sectors have the most active entrepreneurs who are looking for ways to fund new business ventures, he replied that “the most frequent loan applicants to the BDB are restaurant and hotel owners and people from other tourist sectors that were the most impacted by the pandemic. This is why we have prepared a new program custom-made for the needs of this sector. This, of course, does not mean a refusal and lower interest on our part to grant loans to companies from other economic sectors that have a business plan for their development. We have also prepared a special product for lending of rose processors who are also having pandemic-related issues. We are adapting to the specifics of their work, because the collaterals there are different.”
The interviewer then asked if there is there a difference between the documents processing time for a loan to a micro-enterprise compared to a large company, to which Mr. Todorov pointed out that “micro-enterprises are easier because the amounts there are at the level of consumer loans – BGN 35-50000. There is a difference, however – no business plan is required for a consumer loan, and it is required for a micro-enterprise because the bank needs to know how they are going to develop their business in the following years. There is no difference between small, medium, and large companies because the documents are the same.
Find the full interview here.
Source: INSME Secretariat
