National Development Bank (CZ)
General Information
Národní rozvojová banka (NRB) / National Development Bank (NDB) is a specialised state-owned banking institution aimed at contributing to sustainable economic development of the Czech Republic. It is the main provider of financial instruments funded from public and European resources as well as from own resources and in cooperation with private capital. It has become an important partner for the central state administration authorities, state funds, regions, municipalities and the private sector, particularly small and medium-sized enterprises.
Legal status
NDB is a joint stock company, instituted pursuant to the Banking Act (No. 21/1992 Coll.). Its shareholder, the Czech Republic, is represented by the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Ministry of Regional Development and the Ministry of Finance. NDB is located in Prague with regional branches in Brno, Hradec Králové, Ostrava, Pilsen and an office in Ceské Budejovice.
History
NDB was established on 28 January 1992 as the Czech-Moravian Guarantee and Development Bank (ČMZRB). Since the beginning, it has primarily focused on providing support to SMEs through bank guarantees and preferential loans. In the following years, the bank introduced programs for financing housing development and municipal infrastructure. It also served as a manager of infrastructure loans from the European Investment Bank. When the Czech Republic joined the European Union in May 2004, the bank has assumed the role of the manager of ESIF-funded financial instruments, enabling it to support new segments of the market. In almost three decades of its existence, the ČMZRB has financed over 114,000 projects with directly provided or guaranteed loans in the total amount of CZK 477 billion (EUR 19bn). Since 1 September 2021, the bank has been renamed to the National Development Bank.
Current mission
The NDB is a national promotional bank able to provide tailored services to wide range of clients. Its mission, as defined by the 2020-2023 strategy, is based on three pillars.
The first pillar is to continue in financing investment and operational needs of Czech enterprises. In cooperation with the Ministry of Industry and Trade, a wide spectrum of financial tools is offered to clients – guarantees, loans, and equity and quasi-equity instruments. While debt financing is provided by the NDB itself, (quasi)equity financing is provided by its subsidiary company the National Development Investments (est. 2019).
Under the second pillar, the NDB supports specific segments of the Czech economy in cooperation with ministries, regions or cities/municipalities. This pillar covers programs for enterprises (financing of energy efficiency measures, innovation, social enterprises, local micro-enterprises, enterprises investing in developing countries) as well as loans for municipalities
The third pillar focuses on project financing of public infrastructure, particularly transport, social, energetic, environmental and digital infrastructure. This pillar is covered by the NDB (loans, subordinated loans, guarantees) and its two subsidiary companies - the National Development Investments (equity or mezzanine financing) and the National Development Fund, which became fully operational in February 2021 (mezzanine and junior financing, PPP financing).
In all these three pillars, the NDB Group continuously develops capacity to offer advisory services and solutions for clients. Currently, advisory services are available for social enterprises, energy efficiency and EPC projects and project financing of public infrastructure.