European Merchant Bank (EMBank) has signed a cooperation agreement with Moody’s Corporation, one of the world’s largest international credit rating and market research companies. The bank is planning to step up the financing of small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) in Lithuania, so it is expected that this partnership will result in even better management of the risks, assets and liabilities associated with EMBank’s corporate loan portfolio.
“Our partnership with Moody’s Corporation, one of the best credit rating companies in the world, is a very important step forward for us. Using the products and services of our new partner will enable us to assess the credit risks of small and medium-sized enterprises, financial institutions or non-banking financial institutions much more accurately,” said Eugenijus Preikša, Chief Risk Officer at EMBank.
Moody’s Corporation serves more than 500 direct and 2,500 indirect clients throughout the world. They include Raiffeisen Bank, one of the leading banks in Austria, Central and Eastern Europe, as well as Alliant Credit Union, one of the largest credit unions in the USA, and other major participants in the financial market. Moody’s Corporation is also the owner of Moody’s Analytics, a provider of state-of-the-art software, consulting services, credit risk and economic analysis research, and financial risk management tools.
According to EMBank’s Chief Risk Officer, Eugenijus Preikša, successful risk management is a priority for the company. In the near future, the bank is planning to step up the financing SMEs in Lithuania, so the issue of risk management will receive even more attention. In particular, the bank will become more active in financing projects related to sustainable development and technological innovations.
Sarp Demiray, CEO of European Merchant Bank, points out that an ever-increasing amount of businesses trust the bank every year. “Compared to the same period last year, we were able to double the number of customers; in the first half of this year, gross revenue almost doubled to 3.1 million euro. Furthermore, the amount of business loans the Bank signed increased by one-fifth and reached 24 million euro. We have a special focus on SME’s and Corporate’s which are planning to invest in innovations, automatization and digitalization as well as energy and sustainability related projects. Our goal is for EMBank’s business loan portfolio to reach EUR 36 million by the end of this year, and to almost double in the next two years to over EUR 60 million. We very much appreciate that we are seen as partners by both large and small businesses, for which we have granted loan amounts from 5 thousand up to 2 million euro”, states S. Demiray.
EMBank is licensed by the European Central Bank (ECB) and is a member of SEPA, SWIFT and TARGET2. The bank provides working capital and investment loans, especially those intended for SMEs, and also offers Banking-as-a-Service solutions. EMBank’s main clients operate in the manufacturing, agricultural, wholesale and retail trade, transport, rental and leasing, real estate and construction sectors.
