10.10.2019 | News
NEFCO and BNB Leasing have signed a loan agreement for the continuous development of the electric vehicle (EV) market in the Republic of Belarus. NEFCO will provide EUR 1 million to BNB Leasing, a subsidiary of Belarusky Narodny Bank (BNB-Bank), for leasing electric vehicles to legal entities and private customers.
A joint facility with the BNB-Bank to promote electric vehicles on the Belarusian market and develop the electric vehicle infrastructure in the country was established in spring 2017. Within the loan programme, BNB-Bank has lent financing to both legal entities and private customers for purchasing electric vehicles, hybrid cars, charging stations and other technical equipment.
The facility is having a strong impact on the development of the electric vehicle market in Belarus, and the signed agreement with BNB Leasing forms the next stage in the implementation of the joint electric vehicle programme.
“The provision of long-term financing to BNB Leasing demonstrates the recognition of the role that BNB Leasing plays in the implementation of the electric vehicle financing programme. The deal opens up an opportunity for BNB Leasing to operate in an environmental context, which is a universally acknowledged standard for an international financial institution like NEFCO,” commented Lasha Akubardia, Deputy CEO of BNB-Bank, in connection with the signing event.
“NEFCO has had very good cooperation with BNB-Bank over the years. We are committed to providing continued support to our long-standing partner in Belarus, which has demonstrated a professional approach by becoming a leading bank in financing the electric vehicle development in the country. We are therefore pleased to see the great interest in our joint Electric Vehicles Facility and, as a result, we are now signing a loan agreement for phase II with the bank’s subsidiary BNB Leasing,” said Thor Thorsteinsson, Senior Financial Manager at NEFCO, in Minsk today.
NEFCO has been working with BNB-Bank since 2013 and loan-financed a facility promoting green, environmentally friendly investments in the transport sector prior to the electric vehicle facility. This facility provided funding to companies interested in modernising their machinery and equipment, and purchasing new fuel-efficient lorries and buses.
Several energy-efficiency funds with commercial banks in Belarus and Ukraine have been established in cooperation with NEFCO since 2008. The joint facility with BNB-Bank, however, is the first NEFCO financed facility explicitly lending capital to projects promoting the market for electric vehicles.
For further information, please contact:
Thor Thorsteinsson, Senior Financial Manager at NEFCO
Thor.Thorsteinsson@nefco.fi, tel. +358 10 6180 657
Anton Slesarev, Head of International Business at BNB-Bank
aslesarev@bnb.by, tel. +375 17 388 87 75
About Belarusky Narodny Bank (BNB-Bank)
BNB-Bank was founded in 1992 and has its headquarters in Minsk. The bank’s operations mainly consist of general corporate banking services that focus on small and medium-sized businesses. BNB-Bank currently has 12 branches in all the major cities in Belarus and approximately 600 employees throughout the country.