A working meeting of Governor Alexey Ostrovskiy with Konstantin Bobrov, the Chairman of the Board of PJSC "BANK URALSIB"

Governor Alexey Ostrovskiy held a working meeting with Konstantin Bobrov, the Chairman of the Board of PJSC "BANK URALSIB", during which the parties discussed the key areas of joint work and prospects for cooperation in solving the priority tasks of the region's social and economic development, and signed an Agreement on Cooperation.

It should be reminded that today PJSC "BANK URALSIB" is one of the leading Russian banks that provide a wide range of financial services. Its main activities are retail, corporate and investment banking.

Opening the meeting, Governor Alexey Ostrovskiy noted: "Based on the results of the evaluation of the Strategic Initiatives Agency for 2017, Smolensk region is among the TOP-5 Russian regions to support small and medium-sized businesses. This is not accidental since the Administration of the region pays much attention to the development of this promising and growing segment of the economy. We will be happy if your bank financially supports different business projects in the field of entrepreneurship. In addition, we were the first in the Central Federal District to receive the support of the Government in terms of creating a territory for advanced socio-economic development (TASED) in the mono city of Dorogobuzh. So far, a number of agreements have been signed on implementing large-scale investment projects in the framework of TASED. Also, active work is being carried out to attract residents to the "Phoenix" and "Safonovo" industrial parks, which are under construction.

In his turn, Konstantin Bobrov, the Chairman of the Board of PJSC "BANK URALSIB", pointed out: "The signed Agreement will allow us to interact systematically while implementing programs and projects relevant for the region. Among them there is integrated support of small business, possible participation in infrastructure projects, including projects carried out on the principles of public-private partnership, mortgage development and a number of other important areas of cooperation."

During the meeting, it was emphasized that the regional Administration is interested in having as many branches of banks in the region as possible, which will create fair competition and contribute to the expansion and development of banking services with more favorable terms for the end user. At the same time, the participants of the meeting stressed that the Bank will be able to successfully find the target audience for new loan products only if they correspond to existing loan programs, such as "Program 6.5%", and the preferential programs for lending to agricultural producers up to 5%.

The meeting also discussed the need to conclude an agreement on cooperation between the Regional Business Support Fund and URALSIB Bank in providing guarantees for the credit obligations of small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs), as well as developing programs that allow lending to CIS citizens.

At the end of the meeting, Governor Alexey Ostrovskiy and Konstantin Bobrov, Chairman of the Board of PJSC "BANK URALSIB", signed the Agreement on Cooperation and discussed the main points of the action plan ("road map").

The agreement provides for implementing SMEs loan programs, supporting women's entrepreneurship, increasing the financial literacy of the population, etc. Among the key areas of the cooperation there is development of special loan offers and banking services to investors carrying out priority and approved projects in Smolensk region, granting preferential loans to start-ups working in the agro-industrial complex and agro-tourism. In addition, the document provides for individual working meetings and consultations with potential investors, as well as seminars and conferences for representatives of SMEs, who will be trained with the assistance of organizations that form the regional infrastructure for supporting entrepreneurship.

In addition, according to Konstantin Bobrov, an important direction of the Bank's activities will be developing mortgage lending in the region and increasing the availability of high-quality financial services, for both the population and entrepreneurs.