Banca Comercială Română (BCR) is the first financial institution to sign a guarantee agreement with the Investment and Development Bank of Romania (BID), under the portfolio guarantee program designed to support the financing of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The partnership aims to increase entrepreneurs’ access to sustainable financing through modern guarantee mechanisms that reduce risks and simplify collateral requirements.
Through this guarantee agreement, BCR will be able to provide SMEs with loans exceeding 1 billion lei, using a BID guarantee ceiling of 710 million lei. The BID guarantee can reach up to 10 million lei per loan, covering up to 70% of the credit value, and for women-owned companies, startups and innovative firms, the guarantee rate can go up to 80%. The maximum guarantee period is 10 years, offering additional flexibility for long-term investments.
The BID mechanism enables customized financing solutions tailored to each company’s development stage. The guarantee can cover a significant part—or even the entire amount—of the required collateral, allowing companies to access financing more easily without blocking additional own resources or assets, thus accelerating approval processes.
Entrepreneurs can obtain loans for:
• Investments in equipment, expansion of production capacities, commercial or storage spaces;
• Modernization, digitalization and energy efficiency;
• Working capital: inventory, taxes, salaries, utilities and other current needs.
Activities related to real estate development, grain trading, agricultural inputs, and other activities excluded under BID rules are not eligible.
“For BCR, this partnership brings together the public and private sectors to transform the economy and strengthen entrepreneurial competitiveness. The Investment and Development Bank plays a key role in this process by providing modern guarantee instruments that simplify access to capital and stimulate the creation of high value-added jobs. The agreement between BCR and BID supports the dialogue with entrepreneurs on relevance, productivity, innovation and integration into international value chains, offering the right framework to turn these goals into concrete investment projects,” said Sergiu Manea, CEO of Banca Comercială Română.
The Investment and Development Bank is the only development bank fully owned by the Romanian state, through the Ministry of Finance, established at the end of 2023 under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan.
