The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) announced on Thursday (12 October) that S Leasing Serbia (SLS), a subsidiary of Erste Bank Serbia, has joined EBRD’s Green Economy Financing Facility (GEFF) as a participating financial institution.
As a new participating financial institution, the leasing company is set to receive a 10 million-euro loan from the EBRD and GCF for green investments in Serbia via the EBRD’s Green Technology Selector, an online database that connects sellers of green technologies with businesses and homeowners.
The GEFF in Serbia is supported by Korea-based Green Climate Fund (GCF).
“The EBRD continues to promote green investments in the country and scale up financing to local businesses through its partner financial institutions. We are happy to welcome S Leasing Serbia as our new partner institution, and we hope that this project is just the beginning of a long-standing relationship,” said Aleksandra Vukosavljevic, EBRD Director of Financial Institutions.
While Erste Bank Serbia is a “long-standing” EBRD partner in the country, this is the first cooperation with its subsidiary SLS. The subsidiary, which focuses predominantly on passenger and commercial vehicles but also construction equipment, is ranked fourth in Serbia by total assets.
“Environmental, social and governance principles are deeply rooted in our business philosophy, which is why this partnership is extremely important to us. We are fully committed to improving business sustainability and our support for projects that focus on renewable energy sources will be our imperative in the future. The EBRD and GCF support for green investments will be invaluable on this path,” said Bojan Vračević, Chief Executive of SLS.
SLS is expected to use the EBRD and GCF financing to increase its offering of green technologies – including solar panels, heat pumps and biogas equipment – to local companies, including small and medium-sized enterprises. The technologies and equipment will come from a pre-approved list on the EBRD Technology Selector platform, EBRD said in a press release.
