Partner: United States Agency for International Development (USAID)
Year: 2014
The project aimed to motivate banks and other stakeholders to find financing modalities that are more suitable for the SME market segment than existing banking practices, by presenting strong evidence of missed opportunities resulting from current practices. An additional objective of the project was to assess whether and how commercial banks in Serbia can increase lending to resilient and growing SMEs. This analysis covered two components. The first component was focused on presenting the structure, performance, and growth potential of SMEs in Serbia. The second component aimed to understand and analyze the banking practices for SME financing, in order to determine if there are opportunities to expand financing for the mutual benefit of both banks and SMEs. The analysis and assessment were based on indicators from the financial reports of all companies operating in Serbia during the period from 2005 to 2012. In addition, CEVES interviewed sales and risk management executives in 11 banks (approximately 70% of the Serbian banking market).
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