Altamira doValue Group has appointed Patricia García Barros as director of its new business unit specialized in loan management for small and medium-sized companies, which manages a loan portfolio of more than 3,000 million euros.

«The current macroeconomic situation, the rise in interest rates that is already taking place and the announced modification towards a more restrictive monetary policy due to high levels of inflation fuel this context of greater complexity in the management of loans to SMEs by part of the banking entities for which Altamira has been anticipating for many months", said Francesc Noguera, CEO of Altamira doValue Group in Spain and Portugal.

The new director has highlighted the "capillarity" and "specialization" of the unit, to which they will add the use of artificial intelligence to adapt to the characteristics of this business segment.

The management of ICO aid related to Covid-19 will be one of the main focuses of the unit, a volume of 150,000 million euros destined for 500,000 companies throughout Spain. Altamira doValue Group estimates indicate that of the total aid, around 10% (about 15,000 million euros) will become non-performing loans that must be managed by specialized units such as the company's.

The doValue group itself, Altamira's main shareholder with 85% of the capital, also participates in the management of SMEs in other European markets such as Italy, Greece, Cyprus and Portugal, in addition to Spain.