Santo Domingo – Banesco Banco Múltiple and PROPARCO, the investment subsidiary in the private sector of the French Development Agency (AFD), signed a financing agreement for an amount of 15 million dollars to support the development of the small and medium-sized portfolio companies (SMEs), in the framework of the Covid-19 health crisis.

The signing ceremony was attended by Mrs. María Clara Alviarez, Executive President of BANESCO, Mr. Valéry Vicini, PROPARCO Regional Director for the Dominican Republic and Haiti, based in Santo Domingo, and Rachel Roumet, Charge d’Affaires ad interim of the Embassy of France in the Dominican Republic.

This loan was granted by Proparco to Banesco in order to boost credit to small businesses affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. This will allow Banesco to support approximately 185 SMEs, maintain more than 4,500 jobs in the private sector,  generate tax revenues for the government and increase foreign currency for the Dominican economy.

The Executive President of Banesco said: “As a company we recognize the importance of SMEs in the economy and the contribution they make to the development of our country, this is why we establish alliances such as the one we just started with Proparco, to continue supporting this important sector and contributing to its reactivation. On behalf of Banesco, we are grateful that institutions such as Proparco are joining us in our commitment, while at the same time participating in the national economic recovery”.

Proparco’s Regional Director for the Dominican Republic and Haiti added: “It is an important mission of Proparco as the development bank for French international cooperation to promote the economic growth of private companies including small business and the generation of jobs through the local banking sector. This financial support is even more relevant in a recessive context such as this caused by the Covid-19 health crisis. It is an honor for Proparco to support Banesco in the Dominican Republic for the first time, recognizing its trajectory and its strong specialization in the small business segment in the country and at the same time continue to nurture a relationship started in 2019 with its sister institution, Banesco Panamá, SA

About Banesco Banco Múltiple

Banesco Banco Múltiple began its operations in 2011 in the Dominican Republic. It is currently the seventh multiple bank in terms of assets, and offers its clients products and services, both financial and non-financial, through a network of 13 branches in Santo Domingo, Santiago and Bávaro.

About Banesco International

Banesco International is an international brand made up of four independent financial groups with more than 34 years in banking, insurance, and payments methods industries. Its founder is the banker and economist Juan Carlos Escotet Rodríguez, who is also the main shareholder of ABANCA, an independent financial entity based in Spain and regulated by the European Central Bank that has positioned itself as one of the most profitable banks in that country.

Together, Banesco Internacional (BI) and ABANCA have 9,000 employees, 993 offices and 6.9 million clients. The joint business volume exceeds $85.5 billion in assets.

About Proparco

Proparco is the private sector investment subsidiary of AFD, a public development finance institution in France. In total, Proparco has assigned funds for $270million in  the Dominican Republic, divided in 13 projects in the last twelve years in different sectors such as  financel, energy, infrastructure, education and health. With the signing of this new agreement, Proparco continues its work to support small businesses in the country.