CEE’s best bank for SMEs 2019: Alfa-Bank

Awards for Excellence 2019

When Alfa-Bank began focusing on small and medium-sized enterprises 10 years ago, the segment was largely ignored by Russia’s leading banks. Customer service was nonexistent and access to finance was limited, especially for smaller firms.

“It was the lowest priority for most banks to work with SMEs, so the standard of products and services was pretty basic,” says Vladimir Verkhoshinskiy, chief executive of Alfa-Bank.

Alfa-Bank pioneered new methods of working with SMEs, creating a sales and service model specifically for the segment and using new channels to target clients.