News

Publication date: 2 November 2016

On the 24th of October in Athens the European Investment Fund (EIF) and the Pancretan Cooperative Bank signed for microfinance guarantee eur 15 million of loans for greek micro-enterprises. This guarantee agreement aim to support more than 1,000 micro-enterprises in Crete, Athens and Thessaloniki, under the EU Programme for Employment and Social Innovation (EaSI).
EIF Chief Executive, Pier Luigi Gilibert said: “Creating jobs and growth lies at the heart of EIF’s strategy and this new microfinance transaction with Pancretan Cooperative Bank, helps us to achieve this aim. Access to finance is often the missing piece of the puzzle for micro-businesses and I am confident that Pancretan Cooperative Bank will be successful in giving aspiring entrepreneurs an opportunity to achieve their goals.”
Vice President of Pancretan Cooperative Bank, Nikos Myrtakis, said: “With the first cooperation of a pilot character between Pancretan Bank and the European Investment Fund, through a EUR 2.5 million program for Guarantees to micro-enterprises, we succeeded to significantly contribute to the creation or continuation of almost 200 viable and competitive enterprises and simultaneously acquired valuable knowhow for their support. Our target is to support innovative ideas and competitive business plans. We thank once again the European Commission and EIF for their trust in our Bank.”
On behalf of the Greek government, the official opening of the event was done by Mr. Alexis Haritsis, Minister of Investment and Structural Funds.
The Technical University of Crete (TUC), national leader of TRUST-EPC-SOUTH was invited and represented by Prof. Theocharis Tsoutsos in this official ceremony.