EUR 900m of EU support for French SMEs following EIF and SOCAMA agreement

The European Investment Fund (EIF), Banque Populaire and the Federation Nationale des SOCAMA (SOCAMA) have signed the first loan guarantee agreement in France under the EU programme for the Competitiveness of Enterprises and Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (COSME).

The COSME agreement will provide SOCAMA with a counter-guarantee allowing the organisation to increase its guarantee volumes over the next 2 years and to launch a new SME loan programme dedicated to start-ups with limited collateral. The EUR 900m of EU support is expected to benefit over 30,000 companies. EIF already worked with SOCAMA under both CIP and MAP, the predecessor programmes of COSME, which benefitted more than 145 000 French SMEs.

Speaking at the signature ceremony in Paris, EIF Director of Guarantees, Securitisation and Microfinance, Alessandro Tappi said: “I am delighted to be announcing the first COSME guarantee agreement in France with SOCAMA, one of EIF’s long-term partners. Following the EU support of EUR 4.1bn for French SME loans under MAP and CIP, the COSME predecessor programmes, 145 000 SMEs have already benefited from enhanced access to finance through the unique set-up of the Banque Populaire and SOCAMAs network. I am confident that this new agreement will build on the successful cooperation to benefit many more French SMEs lacking the sufficient collateral to access financing”.

Michel Roux, Head of Development for the Banque Populaire banks, said: “The Banque Populaire banks and SOCAMA were created by, and for the benefit of, entrepreneurs and it is in their very DNA to support the creation, growth and development of French SMEs, in particular thanks to the support provided by the European Investment Fund within the framework of the COSME agreement”.

EU Commissioner for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs, Elżbieta Bieńkowska said: “Access to finance remains an important hurdle for SMEs. This agreement with SOCAMA is an excellent example of how the European Union can support small companies to finance their investments in order to grow and create jobs”.

About the EIF

The European Investment Fund's (EIF) central mission is to support Europe's micro, small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) by helping them to access finance. EIF designs and develops venture and growth capital, guarantees and microfinance instruments which specifically target this market segment. In this role, EIF fosters EU objectives in support of innovation, research and development, entrepreneurship, growth, and employment. EIF’s total net commitments to private equity funds amounted to over EUR 8.8bn at end 2014. With investments in over 500 funds, EIF is a leading player in European venture due to the scale and the scope of its investments, especially in high-tech and early-stage segments. EIF’s guarantees loan portfolio totalled over EUR 5.6bn in over 350 operations at end 2014, positioning it as a major European SME guarantees actor and a leading micro-finance guarantor. EIF is part of the European Investment Bank (EIB) Group.

About the Banque Populaire network:

The Banque Populaire network is comprised of 16 regional Banque Populaire banks, Crédit Coopératif and CASDEN Banque Populaire. These independent financial institutions provide a comprehensive range of commercial banking and insurance services, building on the close relationships forged with their different categories of clientele.

Banque Populaire, which boasts 9.1 million customers (3.9 million of whom are also cooperative shareholders), 3,300 bank branches and 16 e-BanquePopulaire online branches, is a member of the 2nd largest banking group in France: Groupe BPCE.

About the SOCAMA mutual guarantee companies:

To better meet the specific needs of micro-companies, the Banque Populaire banks work through a network of 25 small-business mutual guarantee companies (or ‘SOCAMA’) working in partnership with the European Investment Fund that enable them to offer entrepreneurs loans that require no personal surety or, at most, a reduced financial guarantee. Every year, these mutual guarantee companies underwrite between 25,000 and 30,000 loans for a total of 800 to 900 million euros, and manage loans outstanding for an aggregate total of more than 2 billion euros. SMEs wishing to apply for finance under the COSME programme can directly contact SOCAMA.

About COSME

COSME is the EU programme for the Competitiveness of Enterprises and Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) running from 2014 to 2020. With a total budget of EUR 2.3bn, COSME mobilises loans and equity investments to SMEs in Europe. The COSME Loan Guarantee Facility supports guarantees and counter-guarantees to financial institutions to help them provide more loans and lease finance to SMEs. This facility also includes securitisation of SME debt finance portfolios. The COSME programme also invests through the COSME Equity Facility for Growth in equity funds that provide risk capital to SMEs mainly in the expansion and growth stages. The COSME programme builds on the success of the Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme (CIP) (2007-2013) which helped to mobilise more than EUR 18 bn of loans and EUR 3 bn of venture capital to over 350,000 SMEs in Europe.

Businesses can contact selected financial institutions in their country to access EU financing: www.access2finance.eu 

Press contacts:

EIF:

-       David Yormesor, tel: +352 42 66 88 346, e-mail: d.yormesor@eif.org

Groupe BPCE - Banque Populaire:

-       Christine Françoise : 01 58 40 46 57 / 06 23 40 31 62

-       Maxime Ventard : 01 58 40 45 75 / 06 20 09 10 24

-       E-mail: presse@bpce.fr

-       Website: www.bpce.fr