The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is helping Uzbekistan’s one of the first digital financial institutions, TBC Bank Uzbekistan (TBC UZ), to expand its services and provide lending to micro and youth-led or owned businesses as well as women entrepreneurs across the country.
A senior loan of up to US$10 million (€9.1 million equivalent) will be provided to TBC UZ in the synthetic Uzbek Som. It is expected that at least 65 per cent of the funds will support youth-led/owned microbusinesses, which is very important for the country, where the share of youth population is close to 30 per cent. At least 40 per cent of the funds is expected to be on-lent to women.
EBRD has been one of the shareholders of TBC UZ since 2021. TBC UZ is a subsidiary of TBC Bank Group PLC, the holding company of the leading banking group in Georgia. TBC UZ provides a digital customer experience for clients and offers online services including money transfers, loans, deposits, instalments, bank cards and bill payments. TBC UZ’s innovative banking solutions contribute to further digitalisation of the Uzbekistan’s banking sector.
Uzbekistan is the leading recipient of EBRD funding in Central Asia for the fourth year in a row. To date, the Bank has invested around €4.95 billion in 167 projects across the country, with most of those funds supporting private entrepreneurship.
