First investment in "Garant" - EBRD announces investments into voluntary pension funds in Serbia

European Bank for REhabilitation and Development, which has so far invested 1.1 billion EUR in 69 projects in Serbia, is ready to invest into voluntary pension funds, just like it does in the other countries of the region. With the investment of 8m EUR EBRD has recently entered the ownership structure of the First pension company in Slovenia, which is, by the way, the founder of the Voluntary Pension Fund "Garant" in Serbia.

- At the end of March, EBRD adopted the new strategy for Serbia for the next two years and our basic orientation is the investment into financial sector, that is, non-banking institutions, such as voluntary pension funds, leasing and insurance companies - said Vesna Mukaetova, the Manager of EBRD for Serbia.

Miroslav Ekart, Executive Manager of "Garant", pointed out that the entrance of EBRD would contribute to the promotion of reputation of that fund and he added that the value of the investment unit of that fund had increased by 10% during three months of work.

- At the moment, the investment unit of "Garant" is worth 1,100 RSD and such high nominal income have been achieved exclusively by trade in the quality securities on the Belgrade Stock Exchange. Our policy is that the collected money be invested only in Serbia where the incomes are much higher than on some other markets. The aim is that we have 20% of share in the market, that is, 100,000 members - Ekart pointed out.