Agro

In March of this year there was a change in the Rules for granting preferential loans, consisting in increasing the de minimis aid limit for entities using loans for the purchase of agricultural land and disaster loans with a level of loss not exceeding 30% – from EUR 15,000 to EUR 20,000

In order to promote the Życie i Zdrowie insurance, new functions have been introduced in the sales service system to copy the insuring party’s data from the policies regarding Agricultural Equipment, Crop and Agro Concordia directly to the Życie i Zdrowie policy. In addition, leaflets about this product were added to other types of policies.

In 2019, an increase in the number of applications for funding as part of the Rural Development Plan 2014-2020 (RDP) could be observed. Due to the fact that these projects are financed from public sources, great emphasis is placed on the transparency of the choice of service providers and goods suppliers. RDP 2014-2020 beneficiaries are obliged to make public inquiries on the portal of Agency for Restructuring and Modernization of Agriculture whenever the value of an offer is above EUR 30 thousand. Thus, the Bank has access to a list of potential customers who carry out investments in the area of operations of a given Branch or Business Center.

In September 2019 the Agency for Restructuring and Modernisation of Agriculture launched a new aid RDP program 2014-2020 watering systems for farmers. The program offers refund of 50% (or 60% in case of young farmers) of investment expenditure on construction of water intakes, purchase of new machinery, equipment or installation, in particular used for the purpose of collection, measurement of collected water as well as storage, purification, restoration and distribution of water.

For investments co-financed by EU as a part of 2014-2020 RDP the Bank offers Unia+ Loan and European leasing loan.

For investment undertaken without subsidies: Preferential loan (RR line) with low interest rate, Agro Progress Loan or Leasing Loan granted for the purpose of financing purchase of machinery and equipment, the ownership of which is transferred to a borrower within simplified leasing procedure, with promptly issued decision to grant funding.

In the period between 1 September and 31 December 2019 the Bank organized campaign promoting loans for watering systems throughout lowering commission to 0% for insured loans.

On 5th of Novemeber 2019 BNP Paribas Bank Polska entered into Guarantee line portfolio agreement AGF with Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego (BGK). The Agricultural Guarantee Fund is the first BGK guarantee fund on the market available for the whole agricultural sector, i.e. both for agri-food processing sector and, for the first time for producers of primary production (farmers). The fund mitigates consequences of lack of adequate (from the banks’ point of view) collaterals, among others associated with limitations of enforcement against farmers’ property. Guarantee enables the Bank to apply more favorable loan terms.  For agri-food processing entities AGF offers more favorable loan terms than de minimis guarantee i.e. guarantee up to 80% of a loan amount and with a guarantee amount up to PLN 10 million. The guarantee will be implemented to the Bank’s offer in the first quarter of 2020.

On 12 ^th December 2019 the Bank concluded an agreement with the European Investment Bank introducing Private Finance for Energy Efficiency (PF4EE) instrument. The purpose of the instrument is to increase the availability of debt financing to eligible energy efficiency investments and to improve conditions of investment financing, among others through lower prices, longer maturity and less stringent requirements regarding collaterals.

Based on the agreement the Bank will offer farmers from micro-enterprises segment financing of purchase and installation of photovoltaic system on favorable terms. Implementation of the product is planned for the first quarter of 2020.

From 15 January to 31 May 2019, the annual Agro Offensive campaign dedicated to Agro farmers and entrepreneurs was conducted. The campaign was dedicated to both Micro-enterprises and SME customers.

The goal of the campaign was to attract new customers and increase the sales of loan and leasing products in the segment. The special offer concerned the following loans: Agro Ekspres, Rzeczówka (revolving renewable and non-renewable credit account), Agro Progres, Unia+ and preferential loans. In addition, attractive pricing for leasing and leasing loans was offered in cooperation with BNP Paribas Leasing Solutions.

This year’s Agro Offensive was supported by dedicated marketing materials, a campaign in traditional media (e.g. newspapers, ATMs) as well as online and in social media. Agro Offensive was also present at industry fairs (AgroTech Kielce) and business meetings with clients.

In 2019, members of Agro Expert Teams (Micro and SME/Corporate) engaged in a number of pro-sales tasks and tasks aimed to improve the quality of the existing portfolio. They held close to 1000 meetings with current and potential customers of the Bank, over 600 expert opinions were prepared, mostly for new transactions (verification of revenue and cost assumptions and production capabilities) and approx.. 250 as part of reviews of the functioning Agro portfolio (verification of the condition of farms and recommendations as to optimal paths of cooperation).

During the period in question, Agro experts conducted over 350 training sessions for the Bank’s employees. They participated in approx. 100 Agro events at the national and regional level, further improving the Bank’s image in this segment.

In addition, Agro Experts supported initiatives and projects such as: the Agronomist.pl portal or the Agro Safe Financing campaign – targeted at both clients and employees of the Bank.

In connection with the Bank’s rebranding and the need to highlight the offer addressed to the agrobusiness segment, a dedicated BNP Paribas Food & Agro sub-brand was introduced in April 2019. It is used in marketing materials (letters, product cards, product presentations, business cards, stationery, advertising materials, etc.).