Timur Temirgaliyev, Guarantee Fund: 'I would change public banks’ attitude to their free assets’

Securities for 4,5 billion rubles

The portfolio of guarantees of the Tatarstan Guarantee Fund has grown by 20% this year, while the number of securities has by 70%. The fund has provided 248 securities for 1,3 billion rubles from January to mid-December, which has allowed entrepreneurs to borrow almost 4,5 billion. Director of the fund Timur Temirgaliyev said about it during breakfast with the press in Kazan.

This year, the guarantee capital of the Guarantee Fund has risen from 924,5 million rubles to 1,3 billion rubles, or by 41,5% of subsidies from the federal and regional budgets. The fund is intending to add another 200 million rubles in 2020. According to Temirgaliyev, this year special attention has been paid to support for rural entrepreneurs in Tatarstan who have been granted twice more securities (36 at 183 million rubles) than last year (12 securities at 59,6 million rubles). Thanks to the fund, agricultural producers have borrowed 714,3 million rubles. It is 4,5 times (!) more than in 2018.

Moreover, clients of the fund pay back their debts on time. In 2019, the Guarantee Fund has allocated just 14,8 million rubles to pay overdue payments for four SMEs.

“Last year was rich in investment projects, capital investments. I find it hard to say judging by this year that entrepreneurs have nothing to invest money in. It is hard to forecast for the next year, but I can say the following. Talking with different people I notice a tendency that those who say they have nothing to invest in they don’t grasp trends accurately. If we look at the youth, they are doing well, businesses are developing. Those who say it live in the past. Business models that worked 10 years ago don’t work today. It is very important to constantly grasp trends and get accessible financing. There is money, one should just look for opportunities. There are a lot of ideas for running a business. One should grasp the trend. We сan’t talk about the situation with rates because we don’t know how political and macroeconomic circumstances will unfold. But now commercial banks anyway will reduce loan interest rates,” Timur Temirgaliyev noted in answer to Realnoe Vremya’s question.

One in three application approved

The Unified Lending Centre (ULC) of the Guarantee Fund of the Republic of Tatarstan opened in September 2018. It helps small and medium-sized business entities to choose the optimal loan and collect a set of documents, complete and submit an application free. Consultants of the Guarantee Fund accompany the client until he receives the money.

This year the number of consulted clients has been 817. Moreover, there have been submitted 262 applications for a loan to banks. The sum of loans has amounted to 751,4 million rubles. One in three application has been approved, which, according to Temirgaliyev, is higher than the banking sector’s average.

During the operation of the ULC, the number of applications sent to the bank has been 338, while loans have totalled 1,9 billion rubles. 105 applications have been approved.

Arranged securities

Nowadays there have been granted about 50 million rubles of microloans according to Guarantee Flow crowdfunding programme launched last July. Another 12 already approved applications at 13,6 million rubles are also in work.

According to Temirgaliyev, the fund reached its full capacity in Guarantee Flow quick unsecured loan programme in the middle of September. “This story is certainly successful. I can say for sure that it is the cheapest online loans in Russia. It can’t be cheaper without security and any documents, the effective final rate is 14% a year,” he noted.

“We will actively develop this topic next year, our key investor envisaged money for this purpose. The biggest loan sum will grow from 3 to 5 million rubles, and the term will become two years. The rate, however, won’t change. We will work with other banks too, for instance, with Sberbank that has launched the analogous SberCredo system. We can’t join any possible platforms of this kind. For instance, we won’t issue security for a loan at 30% a year a priori. It isn’t ethical, from our point of view. Development is out of the question there,” the head of the Guarantee Fund stressed.

Temirgaliyev said that the following year the fund would focus and put all possible effort to develop online tools.

“The limit on number of applications is far”

The security fee of the fund has varied from 0,75% to 1,5% a year for standard products this year. Next year the fund plans to switch to a fixed rate.

“The limit on number of applications is far. If the fund works as it did, then, yes, human resources are limited. But we are developing new services, online stories, alternative financing sources and tools. Their potential is huge,” Temirgaliyev emphasised answering Realnoe Vremya’s question.

Speaking about what could be improved to help businesses borrow money, the head of the Guarantee Fund, first of all, noted the regulator’s policy. “I would change the attitude of public banks to their free assets. Banks place a huge amount of liquidity they take to the Central Bank to its tools. The federal and regional governments should stimulate banks to lend entrepreneurs more, not to limit to only reliable and very reliable tools,” he said.

“To introduce a regulation?”

“On the contrary, to reduce existing regulations. Banks should be given more freedom. Now regulations are very strict. While a banking business is now a very complicated ecosystem, first of all, because the regulator’s regulations are very and very strict,” Temirgaliyev stressed. “Now banks don’t lend to entrepreneurs with a high risk or without security not because they don’t want but because the cost of such lending is very expensive for them. They have to create a 100% reserve for such loans. In my opinion, might the rate be higher, but those who need money would get it.”

In Temirgaliyev’s opinion, the public administration needs more dynamism today. “There is a lot of dynamism in Tatarstan, but the more always the better. It is welcomed in our republic, it certainly is in our ministry. Any idea, even maybe crazy, can meet support at the top. The sky is the limit,” he noted.