Risk-sharing agreements with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and a portfolio guarantee agreement with the European Investment Fund (EIF), which make it possible to allocate new loans worth up to EUR 825 million and EUR 357 million to Ukrainian business, have been concluded by PrivatBank at the URC 2026 Recovery Conference in Gdansk (Poland), an Interfax-Ukraine agency correspondent reports.
As noted during the signing, the agreement with the EBRD is a record for the risk-sharing market. Currently, the first tranche of EUR 265 million is being allocated.
The largest part of the agreement with the EBRD – EUR 692 million – will be directed within the Resilience and Livelihoods Framework: these funds will allow financing the working capital and investment needs of Ukrainian companies, while another EUR 133 million is provided through the EU4Business-EBRD credit line for micro, small, and medium-sized businesses.
In the case of the EIF, which is part of the European Investment Bank (EIB) Group, at least 80% of the financing will be directed to micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises.
As Yevhen Zaigraiev, member of the board of PrivatBank for corporate business and MSMEs, reminded Interfax-Ukraine, last year at URC 2025 in Rome, the bank concluded a similar agreement with the EBRD, which made it possible to provide loans to businesses for EUR 600 million.
According to Zaigraiev, due to the successful implementation of last year’s project, the guarantee fee in the new agreement for the bank is lower.
He also predicted that PrivatBank would maintain high rates of lending to business, and admitted the signing of the next such agreement with the EBRD in a year at the next URC 2026 in Estonia.
Regarding the agreement with the EIF, Zaigraiev said that in it the Fund covers up to 70% of the risk for each loan, while in the agreement with the EBRD it covers up to 50%. Therefore, the bank will be able to offer better conditions to companies that usually have limited access to financial resources due to high war risks, in particular to enterprises located in more risky regions.
In particular, collateral requirements for loans, bank guarantees, and factoring will be significantly reduced, and for individual online loans, collateral will not be required at all.
As indicated in the materials on the EBRD website, its maximum volume of participation in the risk-sharing mechanism for loans worth up to EUR 825 million will amount to EUR 259.5 million.
PrivatBank is the largest bank in Ukraine. Total assets of the financial institution, according to the National Bank, as of May 1, 2026, amounted to UAH 952.46 billion (22.5% of the total volume).
According to the EBRD, the bank serves about 60% of Ukrainian entrepreneurs and has over 930,000 active clients in the MSME segment, and more than 40% of Ukrainian enterprises have active accounts with it.
