Summary of the guarantee lines to SMEs granted by the Spanish Government

Abr 1, 2020

Following a summary of the main features of the first tranche of ICO-credit lines granted to entrepreneurs and self-employed pursuant to the resolution of the Spanish Council of Ministers of 24 March 2020 and the State Secretariat of Economy and Business Support of 25 March 2020, aiming to mitigate the financial impact of Covid-19:

• Two sub-tranches of up to 10,000 million euros for loan renewals and new loans to self-employed and SMEs are established.

• Applicable to loans and similar transactions in favour of entrepreneurs and self-employed with business address in Spain whose activities have been affected by COVID-19, provided that

– the loans or transactions concerned have been subscribed or renewed after 17 March 2020;
– the borrowers, on 31 December 2019, were not registered as defaulting debtors in the Central Credit Register of the “Banco de España“, and
– the borrowers, on 17 March 2020 were not involved in any bankruptcy proceedings, neither on their own request nor due to the circumstances described under art. 2.4 of the Law 22/2003 of 9 July for entering into an arrangement with creditors.
• The maximum loan amount for each entrepreneur or self-employed, whether by one single or various transactions, is 1.5 million euros, being subject to the specific regulations established by the European Commission 1407/2013 of 18 December and art. 107 and 108 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, respectively.

• Whenever approved within the company’s risk policy, transactions of up to 50 million euros shall be guaranteed, without prejudice of subsequent checks.

• Generally speaking, these guarantees to entrepreneurs and self-employed are granted regardless of the respective source of funding of the loan or financing modality. Where the loan has been granted by the ICO-institute, however, the same conditions as previously established shall apply.

• Guarantees to entrepreneurs and self-employed shall not exceed 80 per cent of the transaction concerned.

• The compensation of loan guarantees up to 1.5 million euros shall imply 20 basis points on the total amount of guarantees.

• Loan guarantees may be solicited until 30 September 2020. Any time extension in this regard requires the resolution of the Spanish Council of Ministers in line with the EU guidelines on State aid.

• The duration of the guarantee shall coincide with the maturity of the respective transaction, not exceeding five years, though.