Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 3 February 2021
25. Deputy Pearse Doherty asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the basis on which permitted total lending per lender was decided or allocated under the future growth loan scheme. [5647/21]
View answerThe Future Growth Loan Scheme makes lending available to SMEs and small mid-caps (up to 499 employees) seeking financing for long-term strategic investment, including in response to the impacts of Brexit and COVID-19.
The volume of lending allocated to each lender participating under the scheme was determined as part of a competitive “open call” process operated by the Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland [SBCI].
In order to be eligible to take part in the open call process, a lender must submit an expression of interest and meet a number of eligibility criteria. As part of this process, lenders submit an allocation that they expect they could deploy. Thereafter, potential participants are assessed by the SBCI and are scored on a number of features, including: the quality of their proposal for implementation of the scheme; ability to deploy a portfolio of the size proposed; the proposed interest rates under the scheme; and ability to provide finance to SMEs/small mid-caps at the scale being proposed.
The European Investment Fund [EIF], as counter-guarantor, then carries out a review of the applicant lenders and proposed allocations.
