Trends in the development of the small business lending market. Lending to small and medium-sized businesses: domestic trends

Microfinance is one of the effective methods for developing small businesses. This is a financial industry aimed at providing various financial services to individuals who, for one reason or another, are unable to use conventional banking services, for example, start-up entrepreneurs who lack funds for current activities.

Those. it all comes down to money. The first problem for a novice entrepreneur is initial (start-up) capital. If this problem is solved, a second problem arises - further development of the business, which is difficult to solve without an accessible lending system, and the start-up capital will not be enough.

Therefore, in the activities of the Government Commission for the Development of Small and Medium Enterprises, the task of developing the microfinance institution appeared. In addition, the development of microfinance is included in the package of anti-crisis measures provided for by the Federal Program for Support of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises.

Microfinance activity is the activity of organizations created for the purpose of providing access to small and medium-sized enterprises and infrastructure organizations for supporting small and medium-sized businesses to financial resources by providing loans (credits) to small and medium-sized businesses.

At its core, this activity is aimed at microcrediting entrepreneurs. A key feature of the activities of such organizations is the small amount of funds issued, covering small expenses for entrepreneurs. Thus, the main component of microfinance is microcredit, and in our country, where the microfinance market has just begun to develop, these concepts are almost identical.

The problem of microfinance in the Russian economy today has acquired a specific significance, and it should be considered not only as the most important tool for solving the problems of medium and small businesses and promoting entrepreneurship, but also as an instrument of anti-crisis policy.

Microfinance solves two important problems: firstly, it helps to develop small businesses, teaching entrepreneurs to work with borrowed funds and build a credit history; secondly, it helps to overcome poverty and unemployment.

According to the Ministry of Finance, there are currently about 450 organizations in Russia that, in their organizational and legal form and type of activity, may correspond to the characteristics of microfinance organizations.

Activities alternative to bank lending are regulated by the law “On microfinance activities and microfinance organizations.” The regulator in the microfinance lending market is the Ministry of Finance.

There are many different microfinance programs currently being implemented. They are developed and offered to clients not only by banks, but also by specialized credit organizations involved in financing small and medium-sized businesses. They provide microfinance to small businesses and entrepreneurship support funds. They can be both state and non-state. But their main service is providing microloans.

So, a microcredit is a kind of loan provided to small businesses under certain conditions.

According to the Russian Microfinance Center, the volume of loans on the Russian microfinance services market is estimated at 26-27 billion rubles, of which 54% are loans for business development, 35% for consumer needs. Average loan amounts are 100-150 thousand rubles. Maximum microloan – 1 million rubles. Moreover, 80% of loans are issued for a period of up to 1 year.

The economic situation in Adygea is noticeably different from what is happening in other subjects of the federation. The Republic at one time did not follow the path of some regions, including large cities, which, having taken out large loans for development, now found themselves hostage to the crisis.

In this regard, the leadership of Adygea managed to prevent a negative scenario for the development of the economic life of the republic. In the absence of external debts, she makes do with the resources she has. And the most effective anti-crisis measure turned out to be a focus on small businesses.

The package of anti-crisis measures at the federal level provides support for small and medium-sized businesses in three areas. It is they who have become a priority in the republic. First of all, this is an increase in the amount of microloans at a moderate interest rate, improving the work of the established guarantee fund, as well as subsidizing interest rates on loans.

In order to improve the mechanism for providing financial support to small and medium-sized businesses, the Microcredit Program for Small and Medium-sized Businesses of the Republic of Adygea was approved.

According to the RA Small Business Development Agency, funds in the amount of 45,000 thousand rubles were transferred for the implementation of the program in 2010. including:

9,000 thousand rubles. – subsidies from the republican budget of the Republic of Adygea;

36,000 thousand rubles. – subsidies from the federal budget of the Russian Federation.

In 2010, 68 meetings of the credit commission of the RA “Small Business Development Agency” were held, at which 256 loan applications of small businesses were considered, positive decisions were made on 228 applications, for a total amount of 54,630.0 thousand rubles. A positive decision on 28 applications was rejected or delayed. Main reasons for refusal:

Applications do not meet the selection criteria for potential borrowers;

Absence or insufficiency of collateral;

Inconsistency of lending goals with the objectives of priority areas of government support;

The presence of types of activities that do not comply with the conditions for the provision of state support, defined by Federal Law-209 “On the development of small and medium-sized businesses in the Russian Federation”;

Providing an incomplete package of documents;

Providing false information.

Having analyzed the approved loan applications in tables 1 - 3, we can conclude that a total of 80% of loans were issued in the city of Maikop, Maikop and Giaginsky districts in such areas as trade and agriculture (tables 1 - 2). Most of the enterprises in Adygea operating in the trade sector are enterprises with no more than 15 employees. More than 97% of loans were taken to replenish working capital (Table 3).

Table 1. – Distribution of borrowers by region and cityRepublic of Adygea

Table 2. – Distribution of borrowers by areaactivities

Table 3. – Distribution of borrowers by lending purposes

Users of financial support within the framework of the “Microcredit Program for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises of the Republic of Adygea” as of 01/01/2011 are 393 small and medium-sized businesses, of which 92 small and medium-sized businesses are engaged in the production of agricultural products. Among the borrowers are 53 peasant farms.

The anti-crisis program provides preferential short-term microcredit to businessmen starting out and developing their business. It is this category of entrepreneurs that is most vulnerable to the crisis, since they do not have a collateral base, credit history and a working current account. Under these conditions, banks stop lending to small businesses. In Adygea, the maximum amount of a microloan for working capital has been increased from 300 to 500 thousand rubles. The microloan amount for commodity production and development of tourism infrastructure has also been established - one million rubles at 16% per annum.

Many entrepreneurs, when developing a business plan for the new calendar year, are often interested in what small business lending will be like in 2017, whether they should count on government support or whether it is better to attract other sources of financing.

Given the difficult political situation, as well as the huge number of unresolved macroeconomic issues at the state level, pessimistic analysts argue that small businesses should not hope for serious government support or the loyal attitude of representatives of banking capital in the near future. But with such an attitude towards the prospects for the development of your business, you don’t need to register an individual entrepreneur or LLC at all, but simply get a job in your specialty and give your strength, intelligence, knowledge and talent for pennies to more enterprising citizens.

The presented article will be of interest, first of all, to those readers who are already running their own business or planning to create their own company in the near future. In addition, this information will be useful for students and teachers of economic educational institutions, as well as analysts working in this direction.

Lending to small businesses in 2017 - government support

Despite the difficult economic situation, the government and the Central Bank plan to work this year, focusing on supporting and developing small and medium-sized businesses. Through joint efforts, government officials and the main financial regulator of the Russian Federation promise to organize the provision of credit funds for business entities with minimum annual rates from 6.5 to 11 percent. Time will tell to what extent economic promises will correspond to reality.

In addition, a geomarketing navigator mechanism is planned to be launched this year. The main purpose of this system is to provide entrepreneurs with information about the current situation in the market segment they are interested in, in any region of the country. If this idea works fully, beginning commercial entities will be able to significantly reduce the costs of organizing their own business.

If you conduct a thorough study of all existing options for supporting small businesses provided by the state, you can highlight the following important areas:

Federal programs for aspiring entrepreneurs, as well as business representatives engaged in production, eco-tourism or the development of folk art.

Providing assistance to small businesses by providing land plots (especially for growing agricultural crops without the use of chemicals and GMOs), training, consultations on legal, financial and tax issues.

Business support, which is expressed in the provision of property necessary for the operation of the company (real estate, equipment, machinery, warehouses).

Providing a government grant.

If the successful implementation of your commercial project does not require millions, you can receive legal assistance from the state through the Employment Center. To do this, you need to quit your job (everything must be done legally), register with the Employment Center, come up with a promising commercial idea, develop a detailed business plan and submit an application for participation in a competition from the Employment Center. If everything is fine, you will be given the necessary amount of money, but they will require reports on the areas of use of these funds.

If none of the listed options is suitable for your business, try to get a preferential loan from the government or find alternative sources of financing for your commercial projects.

Please note the fact that a loan for small businesses in 2017 from the state has very attractive interest rates (up to 6%), but only certain categories of entrepreneurs can receive this money:

manufacturers of oil and gas equipment;

those who produce products that were previously imported from the states, Europe and other countries;

exporters who indirectly influence the size of the country's foreign exchange reserves;

business entities involved in the development of innovative production methods.

If your activity falls into the category of priority sectors of the economy, you have a real chance of getting a loan on preferential terms. To do this, you need to contact a financial institution that is a partner of the state fund (it is this body that makes the decision to issue a preferential loan) with a corresponding application. The next stage is associated with checking the borrower’s activities in order to objectively assess his financial situation. If the fund's representatives are satisfied with everything, you will receive that long-awaited loan.

There is an alternative opportunity to receive financial assistance from the state. To do this, you need to contact a municipal or regional fund with a request for a loan on preferential terms. Typically, these government agencies issue small, short-term loans.

It is better to use this money to implement commercial projects that allow you to make a profit within a short period of time. For example, you are engaged in the production of paving slabs, and you have a large order coming from a company that is creating a huge chain of supermarkets. A potential customer plans to pave the area near his stores with paving slabs so that all supermarkets look exactly the same.

Representatives of this company are ready to buy a large quantity of these products every two months (after purchasing a trial batch), but you do not have enough working capital to fully satisfy the customer’s requests. In such situations, a short-term loan on preferential terms is an ideal option to solve this problem. You are provided with a loan, you launch additional production capacity, and two months later you receive money from the customer. The gross income from this operation will allow you to pay off the municipal/regional fund, as well as earn money for the enterprise. If the customer asks to make another batch of paving slabs, you can fulfill his order according to a similar scenario.

In addition to the listed types of preferential lending, business entities can receive a compensatory loan. The main purpose of this state assistance is full or partial repayment of loans and interest on them that were previously received. This allows entrepreneurs to work calmly, without being distracted by resolving credit issues.

Experienced businessmen recommend creating a promising innovative project that is directly or indirectly aimed at supporting domestic science. Such ideas are funded by the state quickly and without unnecessary paperwork.

Many readers are interested in which categories of entrepreneurs are not eligible to receive government preferential loans. First of all, this applies to bankrupt businessmen or those who will soon be forced to declare bankruptcy. You can forget about government assistance if you already have experience of non-repayment of preferential loans. Before providing financial assistance to a business entity, government officials check whether it has any debts to the budget, funds, etc. Unpaid debts and unfulfilled obligations to the state often become the reason for refusal to issue financial resources on preferential terms.

Bank loans

In a normally functioning national economy, most entrepreneurs do not even consider options for obtaining money for business development from government funds. If there is a lack of working capital or free capital to implement a promising business idea, business entities go to the bank, where they will be provided with the required amount, on acceptable (for both parties) terms. But our country’s economy is going through hard times, and this has a negative impact on the work of the banking sector.

For the third year in a row, there has been a steady decline in lending to small firms, enterprises, etc. If we believe analysts’ forecasts, then lending to small and medium-sized businesses in 2017, at best, will remain at the level of 2016, and according to pessimistic expectations, negative dynamics in issuing loans for the needs of small businesses will continue in this sector.

Your attention should be drawn to the fact that the described situation has developed not only due to general economic problems. The structure of banks’ loan portfolios, as well as the unstable political situation, played an important role in the unsatisfactory lending to small businesses.

Despite the lack of prerequisites for improving the situation in lending to small firms/enterprises, some economists claim that if in the first quarter of this year the main indicators of the state budget correspond to the planned ones, then in 2017 a positive trend can be observed in terms of changes in lending to small businesses.

The structure of loans issued to small and medium-sized businesses does not give reasons for optimism. Last year, financial and credit institutions, when issuing loans to small firms, focused primarily on business entities engaged in wholesale and retail trade. And the heads of large banks are not going to change priorities in the near future. In general, for any national economy, lending to firms engaged in trade is a negative factor. In order to move from the “dead point,” it is necessary to actively support manufacturing enterprises, which are not accidentally called the “locomotive of the economy.”

They provide new jobs, stimulate the development of related industries, increase the revenue side of the state budget, from which medicine, education, the army, etc. are financed. At the same time, the owner of a trading company, having received a loan, will simply increase the volume of sales of goods and put more money in his pocket. Most likely, he will not even raise the wages of his employees.

The good news is the statement of the chairman of one of the large banks that in 2017 the scheme of cooperation with representatives of small businesses will be radically changed. The banker understands the problems of this sector of the economy and sees great prospects in the development of lending to this category of business entities.

The priority tasks for the banking sector in 2017 are:

Changing the structure of loan portfolios, focusing on providing loans to small enterprises.

Significantly increase the issuance of loans to firms engaged in production or working in the field of creating innovative technologies. As a last resort, use financial resources intended for trading companies for these purposes.

Gradually increase the amount of long-term targeted loans.

Review existing options for securing issued loans. Where possible, use equipment, real estate or patented technologies as collateral.

Establish closer cooperation with government agencies that deal with small business lending.

Only through the joint efforts of the government, financial institutions, the Central Bank and business representatives can it be possible to create an effective lending system that, with the right approach, will stimulate the development of the entire country’s economy.

If you are registered with the Employment Center and decide to use your right to a loan to create and develop your own business, before receiving this loan, think carefully: you will be able to account for every penny spent. All expenses must be solely for their intended purpose, which is confirmed by a business plan (it will indicate the direction of activity) and documents from the seller of the product you need. If you do not have all the checks, invoices and other papers confirming the intended purpose of the money spent, expect serious trouble.

In order to increase your chances of receiving a preferential loan from the state, pay attention to the following important points: liquid loan collateral, a real business plan, relevant experience, clear advantages of your business idea over other similar projects. The presented list will help you get the necessary amount of money on preferential terms.

Keep in mind that small business support programs may vary in each region of the country. Sometimes, to get a loan with low interest, you need to invite another representative who must vouch for you. In other regions, there are situations when an entrepreneur is deducted from the issued loan, which he must pay for the entire period of using the money.

Despite the difficult state of the country’s economy, which is aggravated by political problems and the unfavorable situation in the international arena, lending and support for small businesses should improve significantly in 2017, as evidenced by the government’s plans in this industry, statements by bankers, as well as the position of entrepreneurs themselves.

The volume of loans to small and medium-sized businesses in Russia in 2017 increased by 15% against the backdrop of lower rates and preferential government programs, Expert RA found out. Since the 2014 crisis, lending to SMEs has been declining for three years

Photo: Kirill Kukhmar / Kommersant

Signs of life

In 2017, Russian banks issued 6.1 trillion rubles to small and medium-sized enterprises. loans - this is 15% more than in 2016, according to a study by the rating agency Expert RA (available from RBC), dedicated to lending to small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs). The sector is showing growth for the first time since 2013, the volume of issuance is the largest in three years, however, SME lending in Russia has still not reached pre-crisis levels: at the end of 2013, 8.1 trillion rubles were issued to SMEs. loans.

Based on data from the Central Bank, the SME loan portfolio in the Russian banking sector has been declining for the fourth year in a row - minus 7% at the end of 2017 (to 4.2 billion). But Expert RA calculated that the negative dynamics were due to changes in the register of small and medium-sized businesses in August 2017. Because of this, more than 600 thousand organizations, some of them with a credit load, ceased to be considered SMEs. If not for this circumstance, the loan portfolio would also have grown for the first time since 2014 - to 4.9 trillion rubles, the authors of the study calculated. The volume of the loan portfolio is less than the volume of loans issued due to the predominance of loans for up to one year in the SME market.

The Expert RA study is based on official statistics from the Central Bank, the results of a bank survey, as well as in-depth interviews with participants in the SME lending market (representatives of 47 banks were interviewed).

Which businesses in Russia are classified as small and medium-sized?

There is a legislative definition for small and medium-sized businesses in Russia. Micro-enterprises should employ up to 15 people, small enterprises - up to 100, medium enterprises - from 100 to 250 people. To be included in the SME group, there are restrictions on revenue - 120 million, 800 million and 2 billion rubles. for micro, small and medium enterprises respectively.

The main reason for the upward trend in the SME lending market is the reduction in interest rates on loans for this category of enterprises. The weighted average rate on long-term loans in this sector decreased over the year from 14.2 to 10.9%, for short-term (up to one year) - from 14.8 to 12.4%.

In addition, in 2017, individual entrepreneurs received access to the already existing state program for lending to SMEs (at 6.5% per annum). Finally, the government approved a new program under which loans to SMEs operating in priority industries will be subsidized from the federal budget at 6.5% per annum (currently real rates on preferential loans are 9.6-10.6% - preferential rate plus bank margin in the amount of 3-4 pp). Priority sectors include agriculture, manufacturing, construction, transport, communications, tourism, healthcare and waste management.

According to Expert RA, not only the volume of lending has increased, but also the number of submitted and approved applications for SME loans. The first indicator is growing by one and a half times for the second year in a row (based on a survey conducted by a rating agency among banks), and the number of actually concluded contracts at the end of 2017 also increased by one and a half times after a decrease a year earlier.

Market for state banks

Considering that state programs remain the main driver of growth in SME lending, banks that are not among the largest have fewer and fewer opportunities to compete in the market for loans to large enterprises. At the end of 2017, the share of SME loans issued by banks from the top 30 by assets reached a historical maximum of 66% (in monetary terms, the SME loan portfolio of the largest banks amounted to RUB 2.8 trillion). The total volume of loans issued by banks from the top 30 to small and medium-sized enterprises in 2017 showed explosive growth - plus 34%, up to 4 trillion rubles. (such dynamics have not happened since 2011).

The leader in SME lending in 2017 was Sberbank - the largest Russian bank virtually single-handedly ensured the growth of the sector in 2017 (without taking into account Sberbank’s indicators, the total portfolio of SME loans would have decreased by 14%). The State Bank increased its SME loan portfolio by 17%, and the volume of loans by 60%. Also in the top 5 largest creditors of small companies at the end of 2017 were VTB, Moscow Industrial Bank, Bank St. Petersburg and Alfa Bank. The fastest growing loan portfolios were Mosoblbank (four times), Russian Capital (plus 174%) and SMP Bank (plus 104%).

In the case of small banks, the situation is exactly the opposite. Over the year, the volume of loans issued to SMEs decreased by 9% (to 2.1 trillion rubles), the loan portfolio - by 24%, to 1.4 trillion rubles. (minimum since 2011).

There are several reasons for the leadership of large banks - they more often participate in state support programs and are more active than small banks in offering preferential terms for debt refinancing to SME borrowers.

What do they borrow for and when will they be paid back?

In 2017, more than half (51%) of loans issued to small and medium-sized businesses were in the trade sector. Banks traditionally lend to this sector most willingly, notes Expert RA. 14% of loans each went to small enterprises in the manufacturing and construction industries, 6% to insurance and financial SMEs. Agriculture in the overall structure of SME lending looks modest (share of 3%), however, participants in the Expert RA survey note an increase in lending to this industry, and some banks (VTB24, Ak Bars, Raiffeisenbank) increased the share of loans in this area by 49- 68%.

Mostly, small companies borrow for a short period (up to a year) - they need money to finance working capital and eliminate cash gaps. However, as Expert RA notes, in 2017 the share of loans for investment projects to small and medium-sized businesses (that is, for a period of more than three years) exceeded pre-crisis indicators, reaching 18% of the total lending volume.

SMEs are still the most unreliable borrowers. The share of overdue debt in the SME loan portfolio is 14.9%. This is much higher than retail loans (7%) and loans to large businesses (5%). They mostly do not repay debts to banks not included in the top 30—their share of overdue debt in this group reaches 21.7% (increased by 6 percentage points over the year).

Growth will continue

“Expert RA” predicts that with stable oil prices, inflation and the continued reduction of the Central Bank key rate, the SME loan portfolio in 2018 will grow by 15%, to 4.9 trillion rubles. (the agency uses official statistics from the Central Bank as its base). At the same time, banks will not rush to ease lending conditions: only 14% of banks participating in the Expert RA survey are ready to take such a step. The rest either do not intend to change approaches to assessing borrowers (57%) or will tighten them (29%).

The main growth in SME lending in 2018 will come from large banks, which will increase credit limits for the highest quality borrowers, Alexander Saraev, managing director for banking ratings at Expert RA, told RBC. The group of SME borrowers with an average level of risk, which medium and small credit institutions traditionally work with, will continue to experience significant limitations in borrowed resources. According to Saraev, it can be expected that, against the background of a decrease in risk appetite among medium and small banks, the funding gap for a wide range of SMEs will increase, despite the overall market growth.

The SME lending market has prospects only for companies that have sufficient and stable account turnover, says Fitch senior analyst Alexander Danilov. Only in this way can the banks that service these companies more or less reliably assess their solvency, while their reporting is uninformative. “For clients on the street, getting a loan will be problematic - banks are reluctant to do this because it is difficult to assess the risks,” Danilov clarifies.

RBC interviewed representatives of Russian banks with capital of 200 billion rubles. on their assessment of the prospects for the SME lending market. The leader in lending to the sector, Sberbank, is going to increase its portfolio of SME loans in 2018 from the current 1.3 trillion rubles. by 250 billion rubles. To do this, the bank plans to develop online lending and credit analysis technologies based on the use of big data. The bank's press service noted that Sberbank launched online lending to small businesses in March. Other banks that responded to RBC's request (Promsvyazbank, Uralsib, SMP Bank) predicted that the SME lending market will grow, and they do not intend to change their approaches to assessing the quality of the borrower. “We expect that by the end of 2018, rates on SME loans may fall. The reason for this will be a rate cut by the Central Bank. As a result, the growth of lending to the SME segment in 2018 will continue and reach a level of 9-10%,” predicts Kirill Tikhonov, vice president and managing director for small business development at Promsvyazbank. Lending to SMEs will grow due to “improving the situation in the Russian economy” and reducing loan rates, he believes.

At the conference “Financing Small and Medium Businesses 2012”, organized by the rating agency “Expert RA”, the question of the scale and terms of business lending was considered.

It is obvious that banks have come out of their post-crisis hibernation and are again ready to actively lend to businesses. The fact is that there is no one to lend to. Today this is the main problem hindering the development of the SME lending market. “The dynamics of turnover and investment activity of small businesses have decreased significantly. It would have developed more actively if it were not for the chains in the form of a shortage of financial resources, sales problems, rising tariffs, our legendary Russian corruption, tax innovations introduced this year. And which are urgently needed cancel, otherwise the vast majority of small businesses will go into the shadows, and we will not see any development at all,” says Andrey Donskikh, Deputy Chairman of the Board of Sberbank.

Rice. 1.

The graph shows the dynamics of the share of lending to the SME sector in the total volume of lending (legal entities and individuals) for the period from 2009 to 2012. Obviously, this figure reached its peak value in October 2010 and amounted to 23.1%.

By the beginning of 2012, the share of SME lending in the total lending volume was 20%. We can conclude that for now the situation in small businesses remains uneven and the activity of all market participants determines which direction it will go. Since 2011, banks have begun lending to startups, something that Russian banks have never done. “Now everything we are doing is working on mistakes. We are trying to create conditions for financing their activities that are adequate to the current needs of entrepreneurs. We are confident that small business is as interesting a segment as retail,” they say Sberbank.

It is also important to provide diagrams showing the structure of debt by lending area.

Rice. 2.

Rice. 3.

It is obvious that the largest share in the debt structure is the debt of legal entities and individual entrepreneurs, excluding small and medium-sized businesses. Moreover, if at the beginning of 2011 it was 50%, then by the beginning of 2012 it became 51%, and in absolute terms it increased by 2,503,365 million rubles, or by 34.5%. Small and medium-sized businesses occupy a smaller share in the debt structure. The share of the SME segment decreased by 2% in 2011, despite an increase in lending volumes in absolute terms.

Table 1. Total volumes of loans provided to small and medium-sized businesses (total - in rubles and foreign currencies)

Based on the data presented in Table 1, it can be argued that during the period under review there was an increase in the volume of lending to the client segment of small and medium-sized businesses in the Russian Federation as a whole. For the period from 2009 to 2010, the growth amounted to 1,690 billion rubles, or 56%. During the period from 2010 to 2011, the volume of loans issued increased by 1347 billion rubles, which amounted to 29%. Over all three years, the increase in the volume of loans issued to the SME segment amounted to 3042 billion rubles, or 100.9%. Thus, it can be argued that after the crisis years of 2008-2009, there has been a revival in the field of lending to small and medium-sized businesses, which is reflected in a doubling of the volume of loans issued.

Table 2. Cumulative volume of loans provided for 2011, billion rubles.

For clarity, you can present the same data in the form of a diagram.

Rice. 4.

It is obvious that during 2011 the increase in the volume of loans issued occurred evenly, on average the volume of lending increased by 400 billion rubles. per month. If at the beginning of 2011 the volume of lending was 289 billion rubles, then by the end of 2011 it increased to 6056 billion rubles.

We can conclude that banks in the Russian Federation issued loans to the SME sector per month on average of 520 billion rubles. At the beginning of 2012, the volume of loans issued amounted to 365 billion rubles.

Table 3. Total amount of debt and overdue debt on loans provided to small and medium-sized businesses (total - in rubles and foreign currencies), billion rubles

Analyzing the data presented in Table 3, one can see that the debt increased during the analyzed period by 1194 billion rubles, which amounted to 45.1%. Overdue debt has also increased. Its growth amounted to 120 billion rubles, or 60%. However, the share of overdue debt in the total debt of SMEs decreased in 2011 from 9.4% to 8.2%, which is a positive trend in the SME lending market.

Thus, the debt of the SME sector increased in 2011 to 3841 billion rubles, given that at the beginning of the year it amounted to 3036 billion rubles, we can conclude that the debt increased by an average of 72 billion rubles. per month.

Rice. 5.

The diagram shows the increase in overdue debt in 2011. If at the beginning of the year its size was 284 billion rubles, then by the end of the year the volume of overdue debt reached 314 billion rubles, that is, the volume of overdue debt increased in 2011 by 30 billion rubles, or by 10.6% .

However, during the year there was also a decrease in the volume of overdue debt, which can be seen since October 2011, when the volume of overdue debt reached a maximum of 321 billion rubles.

According to experts, in order to radically change the situation with financing small businesses, a further reduction in rates is necessary. For banks, the current level is the limit, since lending risks are very high and the market does not expect a further drop in rates this year. “In supporting small businesses, a large share of responsibility and tasks falls on the state. Small businesses bear much greater risks, and banks set much higher rates for them than for large businesses. And only the state, with the help of guarantee funds and subsidizing rates, can smooth out this objective a contradiction," bankers say. After an almost two-fold decrease in the volume of the small business lending market during the crisis period, 2010 showed the first results of the “revival” of this area. Moreover, signs of overcoming the crisis are associated both with an increase in lending volumes and with qualitative improvements in lending conditions for small businesses.

Thus, from the end of 2009, a gradual decrease in the interest rate on loans for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) began, which made it possible to reach the pre-crisis level of resource costs by 2011. At the same time, there is an increase in average loan terms to an average period of 3-5 years by 2011 and to a 7-year period by 2012, which is due to the fact that small businesses felt the stability of the market situation and are ready to take on more serious financial obligations . At the same time, the simplification of loan collateral requirements, which is achieved by the spread of unsecured loan products and a reduction in hedging ratios when assessing collateral, shows that banks are beginning to value market stability more highly.

The effectiveness of various areas of state support turned out to be uneven. If in general we can talk about positive trends in the regulation of the sector, then the effectiveness of regional systems for supporting small businesses during the crisis turned out to be quite low. At the federal level, the small business support programs of the Russian Ministry of Economic Development turned out to be more effective.

The support distributed through the Russian Development Bank has also shown great effectiveness. The nature of the support provided by the Russian Development Bank is the most promising, since funds are allocated on a repayable basis. At the same time, the RBD program also has its own difficulties: low capitalization (compared to demand from small and medium-sized businesses); interest rates are still quite high; Mechanisms for distributing regional limits are not fully established.

Despite the positive dynamics in the SME lending sector, it still requires government regulation, which should be expressed not only in various types of financing, but also in the development of the institutional environment. The main barrier to the further development of SME lending remains, first of all, the opacity of business. Despite the specialized methods for assessing the financial condition that most banks have, “coming out of the shadows” of small and medium-sized businesses is still a serious barrier to the development of its financing system. It is especially pronounced in the regions.

It will also be important to show the dynamics of interest rates on loans provided to small businesses.

Dynamics of interest rates on SME loans for the period 2009-2012.

Rice. 6.

It is obvious that there is a decrease in lending rates for small businesses, i.e. loans for entrepreneurs are becoming cheaper and reaching pre-crisis levels.

The importance of the issue of successful economic activity of small enterprises requires making responsible decisions, including changes to the regulatory framework, believes Andrei Metelev, lawyer at the legal bureau "Olevinsky, Buyukyan and Partners." According to the expert, government authorities and the business community have been talking about the importance of small business since the revival of the market economy of Russia - back in the USSR, associated, in particular, with the adoption of union regulations on the creation of joint ventures with foreign capital.

“Removing existing restrictions on the participation of foreign individuals and large companies in small enterprises should, in my opinion, stimulate the influx of capital into small businesses and facilitate the integration of Russian small businesses into the world economy,” noted Andrei Metelev. “At the same time, it is important for a foreign participant to understand what preferences can he count on, otherwise the attracted capital will “flow” back?

Elena Muratova, head of tax law, finance and credit at the law firm "Private Law", clarifies that today small businesses have some advantages. Among them: the possibility of maintaining accounting records in a simplified form, the possibility of financial support from the funds of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation by providing subsidies, budget investments, state and municipal guarantees for obligations.

“An undoubted advantage is the obligation of state (municipal) customers to place orders with small businesses in the amount of 10 to 20 percent of the total annual volume of supplies of goods, performance of work, provision of services,” says Elena Muratova. “List of goods, works, services for state and municipal needs, orders for which are placed with small businesses, was approved by a decree of the Government of the Russian Federation. It should also be noted that since 2010, continuous statistical monitoring of small businesses has been introduced."

Experts believe that, on the one hand, the implementation of the proposed amendments will contribute to the creation of new organizations that meet the criterion of small business, the founders of which will be both foreign organizations and large, sometimes semi-governmental organizations and institutions. It is possible that there will be some influx of foreign investment. However, on the other hand, experts have concerns that the adoption of amendments by the Ministry of Economic Development may lead to the opposite situation, entailing the elimination, for example, of “real” small businesses independent of large corporations and foreign entities from the public procurement market.

“It is quite possible that “new” small enterprises will offer more favorable conditions for tenders and government procurement compared to “traditional” small enterprises, using the resources of their founders,” argues Elena Muratova. “In addition, subsidiaries of large corporations will be able to gain access to additional funding from the budget of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation as small enterprises. Ultimately, the implementation of these amendments may lead to a significant reduction in the amount of support provided to “traditional” small enterprises in favor of subsidiaries of large players that meet the concept of a small business entity only formally.”

According to Andrei Metelev, we must not forget that state support is also needed by those small businesses that do not have such participants. “Everyone should be in an equal position,” the expert noted. “Without access to credit resources, small businesses cannot fulfill their mission of increasing their contribution to GDP and forming a stable middle class in Russian society.”

The head of the Committee on Economic Policy and Entrepreneurship, Evgeny Fedorov, reports that over the past five years, very serious work has been carried out on a block of bills for small businesses, which six years ago did not exist as a type of economic activity described in the legal sphere. The concepts of “number”, “turnover”, “support mechanisms (regional and federal support plans)” were formulated, a federal program was created, and state funding for small businesses increased 15 times. Relations with the state are being built, prospects for small businesses have been determined, which are spelled out in Strategy 2020.

• Development of the small business lending market.

• Main trends and prospects.

• April 10, 2007

• At the beginning of 2006, the volume of loans to the population amounted to 44 billion US dollars, the volume of funds raised from individuals - 103 billion US dollars.

• The volume of the market for loans and raised funds for small businesses amounted to 7.8 and 6.3 billion US dollars, respectively.

In Russia, retail is the most profitable (in terms of return on assets) and dynamically developing segment of the banking business in Russia. The growth rate for loans was 90%, for funds raised - 39%. This significantly exceeds the growth rate of both the Russian economy as a whole (6.4%) and corporate business (25% for loans and 30% for attractions).

The retail market is one of the main segments of the Russian banking market

• The Russian retail services market is highly fragmented; there are no clear leaders, except for Sberbank, which serves 40-50% of the retail market.
• Competition in the market has increased significantly. An increasing number of banks are paying increased attention to the development of retail business. The positions of subsidiaries of foreign banks have significantly strengthened, both as a result of aggressive organic development (Citibank) and as a result of mergers and acquisitions (Raiffeisen).
• Types of players in the retail market:
• Product specialists (RussianStandard Bank, HKF-Bank, Renaissance Capital)
• Foreign banks (Raiffeisenbank, Citibank, IMB, Commerzbank)
• Large (national) state and private banks (VTB, Gazprombank, Sberbank, Transcapitalbank, etc.)
• Medium-sized federal and regional banks

The retail market is one of the main segments of the Russian banking market

• By 2010 The market volume for individuals is expected to increase ~4 times for loans and 2 times for funds raised; the market growth rate will decrease slightly.
• As a result, the volume of lending to individuals in 2010 is projected at $180 billion, with funds raised at $250 billion.
• The main share (~70%) of the loan portfolio on the market now consists of consumer loans, their share will gradually decrease due to an increase in the share of mortgages, credit cards, and car loans. Despite the decline in credit margins, their levels will continue to exceed those of other European markets.
• The growth of the market for loans and raised funds in the small business segment is projected to reach 34 and 20 billion US dollars in 2010. Annual increase is 35-40%.

Russian small business lending market

• Features of the small business lending market in Russia:

• The share of SME lending in total lending does not exceed 10%

• Uneven provision of banking services for SME lending (the main number of credit institutions, 85.2%, are located in the Central Federal District, Northwestern, Southern and Volga Federal Districts)

• The regulatory framework of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation for regulating the process of lending to small businesses is in the process of being improved.

Main trends and prospects of the small business loan market

• Significant increase in interest of credit institutions in this service

• Entry into the small business lending market by a number of federal-level banks with an extensive branch network

• Growth of the network of regional branches in large credit institutions (VTB Group, Rosbank)

• Increasing government support measures at the federal and regional levels. The current support amount is:

• federal sources at the level of 4 billion rubles
• regional budgets

Development of small business lending services

• Simplifying access to small business financing services

• Offer of unsecured loans

• Providing loans guaranteed by small business support infrastructure entities

• Increasing loan terms to 7-10 years

• Introduction of highly specialized products (secured by vehicles, for trade enterprises, etc.)

• Application of scoring models

• Lending to start-up projects

• 2nd place for VTB Group in the Russian Federation in terms of asset growth rates among the top ten largest Russian banks

• Key financial indicators of the group:

• The consolidated assets of the VTB Group amounted to 45,327 million US dollars (+ 23.4% compared to 2005)
• VTB Group's equity capital amounted to USD 5,831 million
• (+ 10.7% compared to 2005)
• Net profit for 6 months. 2006 amounted to 576 million US dollars (294.5% compared to the same period in 2005)

• In the international rating of banks, VTB Group ranks 122 (according to The Banker magazine)

• Expansion of the group by opening new banks in the following countries:

• Vietnam
• India
• China

• Rebranding and positioning of the group on the Russian market as an international VTB group

Retail deposits

Main events of VTB 24 in 2006

Main results of VTB 24’s activities in servicing small business clients

• Growth of the loan portfolio by 8.1 times to 781 million US dollars. Plan fulfillment 150%

• The number of loans increased 7.7 times to 9,097 loans

• New OKMBs were opened at 44 points of sale. The total number of points was 71

Loan portfolio of small businesses for 2006