More than 200 experts from the financial sector in Southeast Europe and the European Eastern Neighbourhood Region are gathering from 17 to 19 June in Yerevan, Armenia, for the 8th Annual Meeting of the European Fund for Southeast Europe (EFSE). Under the banner "16 countries ... and opportunities for enterprise development”, experts from the Fund’s 16 target countries and professionals from the global development finance sector will discuss the latest industry developments with a special focus on micro and small enterprise financing, risk management and agricultural lending.<br/> "With its strong commitment to the Fund, as evidenced for example through its direct local currency investments, we are pleased to follow the invitation of the Central Bank of Armenia and its Governor, Mr. Arthur Javadyan, to hold this year’s annual meeting in the city of Yerevan,” says Monika Beck, Chairperson of the Board of the EFSE. "The Central Bank of Armenia is a pioneer in setting local currency funding high on its agenda. The Armenian dram funding provided by the Central Bank allows the Fund to provide local currency loans to local partner lending institutions and thus increase local currency lending to the final beneficiaries of EFSE funding, i.e. micro and small enterprises as well as low-income households by reducing their exposure to foreign currency risks.”<br/>The Annual Meeting provided the setting for presenting the results of the ‘Engaging with small enterprises: New insights into the financial needs of the EFSE target group’ study. The research conducted in Armenia, Serbia and Romania aimed at identifying the gaps in the provision of financial products and services to MSEs, and at proposing solutions for the Fund and its PLIs to close these gaps. One of the key findings confirming the need for dedicated MSE finance was that small enterprises, in particular in the productive and agriculture sector, need financial services adapted to their specific circumstances and require more effective delivery and often more flexible conditions than currently provided.<br/>
Presentations
<br/>
Opening
<br/>EFSE – The Year 2013 - With a Special Focus on Agricultural Finance<br/>
Governor’s Panel:
<br/>Moderator:
Carola Ferstl<br/>Panellists:
Nerses Yeritsyan, Deputy Chairman, Central Bank, Michael Faulend, Vicegovernor, Croatian National Bank, Milica Arnaudova Stojanovska, General Director of Supervision, National Bank of the Republic of Macedonia, Radovan Jelasity, CEO, Erste Bank Hungary Zrt., Torsten Beck, Professor of Banking and Finance, Cass Business School London/Tilburg University, The Netherlands<br/>
Micro and Small Enterprise Finance – Business as usual or time for a change?
<br/>Moderator:
Thorsten Beck (Professor of Banking and Finance, Cass Business School London/Tilburg University, The Netherlands)<br/>Panellists:
Alla Pavlova (Head of Corporate and SME Business Development Department, Inecobank, Armenia), Aleksandar Kremenović (Chair, Supervisory Board Mikrofin Group, BiH), Robert Rekkers (General Manager, Agricover Credit, Romania), Dirk Haböck (Managing Director, IPC, Germany), Christos Kyriatzis (Head of Unit at the EC DG Enterprise)<br/>Micro and Small Enterprise Finance: Business as Usual or Time for a Change?<br/>
Concluding and Closing Panel
<br/>Moderator:
Carola Ferstl<br/>Panellists:
Henk Nijland (FMO, The Netherlands), Tony Myron (EBRD, United Kingdom), Elvira Lefting (Finance in Motion, Germany)<br/>
Technical Workshop I: A Data-Driven Approach to Risk Management: Mining Hidden Gold
<br/>Speakers:
Joachim Bald (Senior Expert on Risk Management, Frankfurt School), Karla Brom (Senior Expert on Risk Management and Corporate Governance)<br/>Technical Workshop - A Data‐Driven Approach to Risk Management: Mining Hidden Gold<br/>
Technical Workshop II: Value Chain Finance: Concepts, Opportunities and Challenges
<br/>Speakers:
Christophe Cordonnier (Senior Agricultural Finance Expert, Frankfurt School), Erdal Kocoglu (Agrilending Expert, Frankfurt School)<br/>Value Chain Finance – Concepts, Opportunities & Challenges
