BT simplifies APIA loans to support agriculture. Banca Transilvania's focus on agriculture is repositioning

Banca Transilvania, the biggest supporter of Romanian agriculture, comes with simplifications in granting APIA credits by receiving APIA certificates online and simplifying the approval flow.

Banca Transilvania and the Agency for Payments and Intervention for Agriculture signed the agreement for the financing of agricultural subsidies to continue the partnership this year. Under the programme, the bank provides advance financing to farmers benefiting from area-based subsidies (SAPS 2020) and beneficiaries of Measure 14 - Livestock Welfare.

People who need financing for agriculture and benefit from APIA subsidies can turn to APIA credit in order to continue their activity, until they receive the subsidy. Banca Transilvania grants financing of up to 85% of the amount mentioned in the certificate issued by APIA. If a person has to receive from APIA subsidies of 22.000 lei, the maximum amount of the loan is 18.700 lei, the effective annual interest rate is 4,88% and the total amount to be paid is 19.752 lei.

BT stake on agriculture

"Despite the challenges of the moment, agriculture has a historic opportunity. Agriculture feeds Romania and, at the same time, it is a chance to restart the economy, to grow Romania. We are paying attention to everything that is happening both in terms of the profile clients who have applied for financing in the SME Invest programme as an opportunity for development and consolidation, and to the strong effects of the drought in certain areas of the country." - says Sorin Ignat, Agribusiness Director, Banca Transilvania.

Banca Transilvania's stake on agriculture in Romania is repositioning through the following four aspects: 

• Encouraging the trend generated by the pandemic, of orienting people towards Romanian products;
• increasing synergy between local producers, traders and customers;
• decreasing Romania's dependence on food imports;
• Supporting entrepreneurial farmers so that they are more and more in the zone of monitoring technology, and machines and machinery are the ones that work.

What BT is preparing on online banking for agribusiness in the coming period:

• The option to apply online for APIA credit;
• The virtual assistant (chatbot) Raul from BT will also answer questions about APIA credits;
• Financing of APIA certificates through factoring.

Banca Transilvania granted last year almost 4,500 loans worth 2 billion lei and reached 31,000 agribusiness clients. BT's figures show the increased interest of customers for working capital loans (+39% number of new loans and 5% as value) and APIA loans (22% as number of new loans and 65% as value). 2019 also meant for the bank the best in class position regarding the discounting of APIA certificates, with more than 2,500 loans for legal entities, worth more than 440 million lei.