BPI France and Saudi SME Bank sign best practice agreement

View shows the King Abdullah Financial District, north of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. (File/Reuters)

• The agreement will contribute to the Kingdom’s economic development and will facilitate achieving the Vision 2030

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s Small and Medium Enterprises Bank and the French Public Investment Bank (BPI France) signed an agreement on Monday aimed at transferring expertise and best practices and designing financing products suitable for the SME sector.
Nicolas Dufourcq, CEO of BPI France, said: “We are pleased to launch this cooperation with our new partner, the Small and Medium Enterprises Bank in Saudi Arabia, to share our experiences in finance, investment, innovation and support small and medium enterprises for a real impact on the economy.”
Mohammed Almalki, the Saudi bank’s CEO, said the memorandum of cooperation is in line with the bank’s objectives, which include increasing the financing provided to the SME sector.
The Kingdom’s vision aims to raise the level of SME contribution to the GDP to 35 percent by 2030, and raise the financing ratio to 20 percent of the total volume of commercial financing.