EBRD backs Raiffeisen’s first synthetic securitisation in Croatia
Summary
Introducing a new financial instrument, synthetic securitisation, to the Croatian market RBA has committed to financing new green projectsThe European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is supporting yet another innovative financial instrument in Croatia by teaming up with Raffeisenbank Austria d.d. The transaction will enable RBA to achieve risk-weighted asset (RWA) relief and redeploy all of the freed-up capacity to the real economy, out of which an amount equivalent to 120 per cent of EBRD guarantee (around 30 million) will be allocated to financing green projects. The project is aligned with the EBRDs Green Economy Transition (GET) criteria, including renewable energy and energy efficiency financing.While the synthetic securitisation market has been growing steadily in more advanced EU countries in recent years, it is a new instrument in most of the economies where the EBRD invests, including Croatia. The transaction is an important milestone for the Croatian financial market, as it is the first SRT securitisation completed in the country and is expected to have a very strong signalling effect for the Croatian banking market.The transaction builds on the EBRD and RBAs successful cooperation to date through various innovative financial instruments. The bank operates 62 branches in 36 Croatian cities.To date, the EBRD has invested almost 4.5 billion in Croatia, nearly 300 million of it last year.