Four financial programmes totalling €2.5 billion. euros are included in the Hellenic Development Bank's Know your customer initiative, which was presented at an event in the presence of the Prime Minister Mr. Kyriakos Mitsotakis. The programme will provide access to bank lending to 60,000 SMEs. Businesses that are healthy and up-to-date but have been excluded from banks because of their size.

"We had a real problem and we present the solution. When people see the ease with which this solution works, the economy will turn the page. The loans will add strength that the economy needs," said Development and Investment Minister Adonis Georgiades.

As pointed out by the managing director of the Hellenic Development Bank, Athina Hadjipetrou, the Know your customer platform will be interconnected with the AADE , the EFKA and the Tiresias in order to certify the tax, insurance and solvency of the companies concerned. On the same platform, entrepreneurs will submit their business plans in a standardised form. They will indicate the banks they want to approach and there will be safeguards to ensure that banks respond.

Know your customer

The programmes that are part of Know your customer are:

-Greenco-financed loans with partial interest rate subsidies for SMEs active in the sectors of energy efficiency/transition and in the development of renewable energy sources. They are loans 80.000-8 million euros co-financed 40% by the project and 60% by the bank, with a duration of 5-10 years.

-Digital upgrade loans 25.000-1 million euro. Co-financing 40% from the project and 60% from the bank and a duration of 2-10 years. It is about digitising activities to increase productivity.

-Loans 10.000-1,5 million euro for working capital. Co-financing 40% from the project and 60% from the bank, duration 2-5 years. The aim is to tackle the increased energy costs and protect jobs.

-Loans 50.000-10 million for companies that have been included in the development law with an 80% guarantee from the fund, for a period of up to 10 years.

A key advantage for businesses is that the part of the loan co-financed by the bank is interest-free. As a result the final interest rate of the loan is 40% lower.

The four schemes will be announced in a month as the call for participation was issued to banks on Friday 7 April 2023. As Ms Chatzipetrou explained, the "Know your customer" platform will remain active in all the bank's tenders from now on.

The presentation was attended by the Deputy Minister of Development and Investments Nikos Papathanasis, the President of HDB George Zavos and the Vice President Pantelis Tzortzakis.