Brussels, 05/12/2011 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission and the European Investment Bank Group launched a new guarantee facility on Monday 5 December for innovative small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to help them access finance from banks. The new facility builds on the success of the Risk-Sharing Finance Facility (RSFF), launched in 2007, that has so far helped 75 companies attract over €7 billion in EIB loans for projects enhancing European growth and competitiveness. The new risk-sharing instrument for SMEs will be managed by the European Investment Fund (EIF). In addition, the EIB and the European Commission are to provide extra resources for research infrastructure.
The EIF is an EIB Group subsidiary that specialises in providing risk finance to benefit micro, small and medium-sized enterprises across Europe via equity and loan guarantees. As it will manage the SME risk-sharing instrument (RSI), the EIF will offer banks a guarantee on part of their new loans and leases to innovative SMEs, allowing the banks to lend more and to do so at more attractive rates.
The amendment to the existing RSFF agreement was signed by Research, Innovation and Science Commissioner Máire Geoghegan-Quinn and EIB President Philippe Maystadt at the start of the 2011 Innovation Convention in Brussels. It is expected to unlock a further €6 billion of loans until the end of 2013, including up to €1.2 billion for SMEs and up to €300 million for research infrastructure. From 2014, the Commission, in conjunction with new instruments for equity finance, intends to scale up and expand the RSFF under the proposed Horizon 2020 Framework Programme for Research and Innovation (see EUROPE 10506).
Commenting on the launch, Maystadt said that, if the EU did not raise its growth and innovation potential, it would be “unable to generate the growth it needs to maintain its place in the world economy”. He pointed out that the RSFF had “already helped many large and mid-cap companies realise their plans” and noted that “with the changes we are announcing, we are confident that SMEs will now also benefit”. (OL/transl.rt)