OREANDA-NEWS. UkrSibbank BNP Paribas Group came in first in the "The Best Bank for SME Financing" ranking by "Bankir" magazine. The VI Ukrainian "Bank of the Year 2014" Award Ceremony took place in Kyiv on December 10th.

The best financial institutions were selected on the basis of a review of Ukrainian banks and voting of their clients, experts of the National Bank of Ukraine, Ukrainian Credit Bank Union, Association of Ukrainian Banks, Ukrainian rating agencies and Individual Deposit Guarantee Fund. The editors of the "Bankir" magazine also assessed the transparency, reliability, reputation and professionalism of the banks.

The experts' decision in favour of UkrSibbank is also supported by the fact that almost half of the bank's retail income comes from SMEs. The account balance of SMEs has increased by 40% since the beginning of the year, while the number of new clients doubled compared to the previous year. In November 2014, the financing for business purposes increased by 104% year-over-year.

"The results we have achieved show that our strategy - make money with the partner and not off the partner - is proving right," said Andrii Kashperuk, Head of Retail Sales Department at UkrSibbank BNP Paribas Group. "Over the last ten years our team has been developing and improving an efficient high-quality approach to servicing SME clients. This award will motivate us to develop further."