Over 1 billion EUR of guarantees for small businesses

The EIF, the European Union's specialized financial body for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), has provided over 1 bn EUR of guarantees for SMEs through the European Union's Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme (CIP) via 9 intermediaries in 6 countries, 1 year after being awarded the management of the EU programme.

Small and Medium-sized Enterprises faced with limited access to finance, worsened by tightening credit conditions, are continuing to be supported by EU guarantees provided by the EIF to banks, guarantee institutions and microfinance providers.

 New and existing business are being financed by a range of financial institutions* - from micro-finance institutions to commercial banks under the European Commission funded CIP. This EU budget provides guarantee support to start-ups, small enterprises and established SMEs, for medium to long term investment loans, linked working capital financing and mezzanine financing. The guarantee is provided for free and expands the risk capacity of the financial institutions, enabling them to provide enhanced access to finance.

Chief Executive Richard Pelly said "The EIF is delighted to be working with financial institutions extending the access to finance for SMEs. We are looking forward to providing guarantees for further partners on board in the coming months.

"By offering SME guarantee facilities to financial intermediaries we can help to provide much needed finance especially at a time when businesses are facing difficult funding conditions."

Notes to editors:

The EIF manages an allocation which is split between venture capital (the High Growth and Innovative SME Facility (GIF)) and guarantees (the SME Guarantee Facility (SMEG)) within the framework of the CIP.

Under the SMEG, financial institutions are obliged to increase the access to finance for SMEs.  The facility offers an excellent tool for approving financing volumes for those SMEs which would not otherwise have access to finance because of the increased lending risk entailed.  The SMEG also complements and broadens EIF's own product offering, of venture capital investment and loan portfolio guarantees.

The EU CIP SMEG Facility gives the EIF the opportunity to play an essential role in supporting sustainable job creation and entrepreneurship in European SMEs. 

About EIF

The EIF central mission is to support Europe's SMEs by helping them to access finance.  EIF designs and develops venture capital and guarantees instruments which specifically target this market segment. In this role, the EIF fosters EU objectives in support of innovation, research and development, entrepreneurship, growth, and employment. The EIF commitment in guarantees totalled over EUR 13bn in some 200 operations, positioning it as a major European SME guarantees and securitisation actor and a leading micro-finance guarantor.

The EIF does not finance SMEs directly, but always acts through financial intermediaries. It intervenes through venture capital and guarantee instruments.

* List of signatures:

Fonds de Participation / Partipatie Fonds, Belgium

KfW, Germany

Microbank and CERSA, Spain

UniCredit Bank, Hungary

Slovene Enterprise Fund, Slovenia

SOCAMA, Siagi and ADIE, France 

Link to the access 2 finance website :         

www.access2finance.eu

For further information, please contact Patrice Liauzu, p.liauzu@eif.org, or visit EIF's website www.eif.org