LähiTapiola to provide €40 million in new lending to Finnish SMEs with EU support

• LähiTapiola gets European Investment Fund guarantee to support Finnish small and medium-sized enterprises, made possible by the European Guarantee Fund (EGF).
• The guarantee will allow LähiTapiola to support Finnish companies hit by COVID with €40 million, allowing them to benefit from EU funds to grow their way out of the crisis.
• The backing from the EGF, part of the EU’s €540 billion COVID-response package agreed last year, allows LähiTapiola to offer more favourable lending terms to its end clients. 

LähiTapiola will make available €40 million for Finnish small & midsize companies, thanks to a guarantee from the European Investment Fund (EIF), made possible under the “European Guarantee Fund” (EGF).

The funding comes at a moment when European SMEs need support to shake off the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic. By channelling guarantees to alternative and flexible finance providers like LähiTapiola, the EGF-guarantee helps to make available new, advantageous lending to Finnish SMEs.

The EIF will provide a 70% guarantee on a portfolio of new lending by LähiTapiola, while also making it possible for the company to offer enhanced conditions to their borrowers. The final lending decisions under this programme rest with LähiTapiola.

Matti Kiviniemi, Head of Corporate Lending of LähiTapiola says in a comment: “With the help of the European Guarantee Fund, we can offer competitive supplementary corporate financing to both existing and new LähiTapiola customers. With financing we can help Finnish companies to invest in Finland and improve their competitiveness. The process with the European Investment Fund specialists has been straightforward and we will continue to work with them.”

European Investment Fund Chief Executive Alain Godard added: “The European Guarantee Fund allows the EIF to do even more of what it does best; providing finance to European SMEs, allowing them to grow. As in other countries, Finnish businesses have had to deal with the challenges and restrictions related to the COVID pandemic and the EIF is glad to be able to partner with LähiTapiola to make sure that this much needed financing is channelled their way.”

Background information:

The European Investment Fund (EIF) is part of the European Investment Bank Group. Its 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.

LähiTapiola is a Finnish customer-owned lifelong security company, and serves private, farm, entrepreneur, corporate and institutional customers. LähiTapiola takes care that its customers have just the right level of cover for their health, finances and property. The products and services in LocalTapiola Group’s offering cover life insurance, non-life insurance, pension insurance, investment and saving. It is also a valued professional in corporate risk management and in its employees’ occupational well-being. The service LähiTapiola provide is genuinely caring and personal, digital, local and responsible – across Finland.

The European Guarantee Fund (EGF) was set up by the EIB Group with contributions from Finland and other EU Member States to shield companies suffering from the COVID-19 crisis. Using nearly €25 billion in guarantees, the EGF allows the EIB and the EIF to quickly make loans, guarantees, asset-backed securities, equity and other financial instruments available to mostly small and medium-sized enterprises. The EGF is part of the European Union’s recovery package aiming to provide a total of EUR 540 billion boost those parts of the EU economy that have been hit the worst.

Press contacts:

EIB Group: Tim Smit, +352 691 28 64 23, t.smit@eib.org, Follow us on Twitter@EIF_EU

Lähitapiola: Matti Kiviniemi, +358 40 7282 751, matti.kiviniemi@lahitapiola.fi