Under the SME Guarantee Facility (SMEGF), EIF provides partial capped portfolio guarantees covering SME financing. These are known as EU Guarantees. The SMEGF is funded by the European Community under the Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme 2007-13 (CIP). EIF manages the SMEGF on behalf of the European Commission. The overall objective is to improve access to finance for the start-up and growth of SMEs, and investment in innovation activities, including eco-innovation.

The SMEGF comprises of four business lines, known as "windows":

• Loan Guarantees cover portfolios of SME mid- to long-term debt finance targeting SMEs with growth potential. Click here for details
• Micro-Credit Guarantees cover portfolios of micro-credits to encourage financial institutions to provide financing to microenterprises, especially start-ups. Click here for details
• Equity Guarantees cover portfolios of investments in SMEs in the seed and start-up phases and mezzanine financing investments, to help SMEs improve their financial structure and achieve business transfers. Click here for details
• Securitisation: guarantees to support securitisation transactions so that financial institutions may mobilise additional debt financing for SMEs. Such guarantees are granted against an undertaking by the financial intermediary to mobilise part of the resulting resources for additional SME financing. Click here for details

General information – applicable to all products

• Application process: click here for information on how to apply
• EU requirements: click here for information on the special features of EU Guarantees