Sparkassen Reconstruction Fund for South Asia

Following the Tsunami, the German Sparkassen Finance Group made a donation of 15 million EUR to assist in the economic reconstruction of two of the countries hit hardest by the Tsunami, Sri Lanka and Indonesia. The objective of the donation is to help the countries not only in the short-term, but to contribute to the longer lasting development of the economies. The donation was therefore transformed into a Fund. In co-operation with local financial institutions (two banks and a micro-finance NGO in Sri Lanka, a state-owned bank in Indonesia) loans are given to SMEs in regions hit by the Tsunami. The loans are at slightly below market rates with duration of 1 to 4 years.

The project does not only aim at providing loans through the Sparkassen Reconstruction Fund to SMEs, but intends to strengthen the participating banks and their credit operations. Therefore, every participating institution receives technical assistance by SBFIC long-term advisors for the establishment of processes (transfer of expert knowledge) in the field of lending business (in particular with regard to small and micro enterprises) and in the implementation of an institutional development plan. SBFIC also provides profound in-house training measures. Finally the project work also includes the areas of product development and maintenance, branch network management, marketing and organisation.

Services provided

• Credit and risk management
• Training for loan officers
• Management information systems
• Organisation and human resource development
• Financial management
• Product development and implementation
• Branch network development and management
• Management of the credit fund
• Further development of SME business.