MONETA Money Bank in the Czech Republic, a long-term supporter of SMEs and self-employed people, has been evaluating the growth of business customers since it entered the stock exchange in 2016. Over the past six years, their number has increased from 93.5 thousand to 125 thousand, i.e. by 34%. The Bank continuously improves its attractiveness for business customers, for example by digitizing the portfolio, thanks to which SMEs and self-employed people can comfortably order more and more products online. Customers also appreciate the support of guarantee programs, thanks to which they can get standard financial products with preferential terms.
“We are convinced that private entrepreneurs are the backbones of Czech business. The constant growth of newly arriving customers from this area proves to us that our products intended for startups and established entrepreneurs have parameters that help the development of this sector. The Pro business account is very popular among our business customers, and last year it won in the category of business accounts in the prestigious industry competition “A Golden Crown”. It’s free, it can be arranged and operated fully online and allows free withdrawals from all ATMs around the world, and in addition, our customers can arrange a financial reserve of up to CZK 2.5 million (approx. EUR 106,000) in the form of an overdraft,” – says Marek Dvořák, Senior Manager of the Small Business Division at MONETA Money Bank with the fact that for the business sector, the Bank currently offers a savings account with an appreciation of 4.0% with no limit on the amount of the deposit and a term deposit with an interest rate of 5.3% per year.
In addition, MONETA Money Bank`s business customers widely use products with the support of guarantee programs, which always aim to support a certain segment of the market – for example, enterprises affected by the COVID-19 pandemic or the current energy crisis, women entrepreneurs, or, more generally, SMEs. They work in such a way that the Bank provides its customers with its standard financial products, the financing of which is provided under favorable conditions thanks to a guarantee from the National Development Bank (NDB) or the European Financial Fund (EIF).
“Since 2016, we have provided preferential financing supported by guarantees in the number of seven and a half thousand loans with a total value of almost CZK 14 billion (approx. EUR 600 million). The benefit of the guarantee programs provided by NDB and EIF is that we can provide financing to our customers among SMEs on favorable terms, and at the same time, we are also able to finance customers who, due to their riskier profile, would not be able to get a loan at all without a guarantee or would be able to get financing in a significantly lower volume,” – sums up Marek Dvořák.
The years 2020 and 2021 were especially significant when MONETA introduced seven specialized warranty programs to its product portfolio to support businesses affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. “Our specificity within the Czech market was primarily that we invested a lot of effort in automating the provision of these preferential loans and making them available even for the smallest segment of self-employed customers,” – says Marek Dvořák. “Thanks to this, we managed to achieve, for example, a market share of over 60% of the number of loans provided in the segment of self-employed people in the COVID III program,” – he adds.
Source: the Bank`s press release dated March 27, 2023
