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ING Bank Romania has registered 27,000 requests from individuals to postpone installment payment and over 1,000 such demands from the legal persons, namely SMEs, since mid-March, the time when it announced a first scheme of installment payment deferral, that was replaced subsequently by the provisions of Emergency Ordinance 37/2020, the bank announced Monday.
In order to support the SMEs, ING Bank joined the SME Invest programme and around 5,000 customers applied for funding for the next 3-5 years.
According to the release, in March, the bank took immediate steps to support individual and legal clients to overcome the situation generated by the COVID-19 pandemic. These included the deferral of loan installments under certain conditions for individuals, collaboration with large companies to identify personalised solutions and accession to the SME Invest programme for state-guaranteed loans for eligible SMEs.
"The current situation is a black swan, which we could not have imagined at the beginning of the year. After the first few weeks in which we focused on the continuity of the bank's activity and the safety of our colleagues, we are now actively working to support our vulnerable customers and contribute to the revival of the economy. Given the abrupt disruption for both society and the economy, a number of measures have been quickly announced to detail how we support our customers during this difficult period. But I would like to thank our teams for the admirable effort made in recent months and a special "Thank you" goes to colleagues from ING offices, located in our own first line," said Mihaela Bitu, CEO ING Bank Romania.
