At the peak of the financial crisis the members of the International Confederation of Popular Banks (CIBP) constantly supported the needs of their customers and in particular those of their historical customers: the small entrepreneurs.

Although the economic activity was declining or at best stabilizing in most of the countries, Popular Banks maintained or even increased their loans to their customers as demonstrated by their global level of outstanding loans to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

Even if the demand for credit to finance new investments significantly fell, in 2009 entrepreneurs had to face increasing treasury needs. Thanks to their close relationship with their customers, to their presence at local level and to their decentralized governance, Popular Banks could appreciate the specific situations of their customers and therefore were able to provide them with the necessary support.

In confirmation of this, CIBP would like to point out that nearly all its members increased their outstanding loans to SMEs in 2009; in particular, in Germany the Raiffeisenbanken and Volksbanken increased their outstanding credits to SMEs by 3%; in Canada Desjardins Groupe recorded a progress of 3.8%; in France the Banques Populaires (BPCE Group) increased their outstanding (aggregate equipment loans) by 4%; in Italy and Austria Banche Popolari and Volksbanken increased their outstanding loans to SMEs respectively by 5.2% and 7.7%, and in Morocco the Banque Populaire du Maroc increased its outstanding loans by 14%.

Throughout 2009 many members of CIBP continued to increase the number of their SME customers and increased their market share of this category of customers. This occurred despite the deterioration of the risk quality (the provisions for loan losses increased from 14% to 40% depending on the country).

This demonstrates that, far from being half-hearted and ready to turn their back on their SME customers, Popular Banks continued to support their customers and wanted to help them to overcome the difficult times.

This behaviour was recognized and pointed out in recent communications by SMEs representatives such as UEAPME (European Association of Craft, Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises).