The Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland (SBCI) today published its first Annual Report along with a midyear 2016 update, showing that the total value of loans drawn down has doubled from €172 million in January 2016 to €347 million by the end of June.
SMEs benefitted by an average of 1.5% versus market rates for loans of less than €250,000, while the agricultural sector continued to account for most of the value of loans (24%).
The South West of Ireland showed the most SMEs using SBCI loans with over 18% of loan numbers by region, while Dublin accounted for 15.3%.
The figures show a doubling of the amount of loans drawn to date now totalling €347 million to 8,619 Irish SMEs and an 154% increase since end December 2015 in the number of jobs supported by SBCI lending activity, bringing the total to 43,349.
There was an average loan size of €40,000 (from €37,000 in December 2015) and the largest loan was €5 million.
Commenting on the results, Minister for Finance, Michael Noonan said, "The SBCI is making substantial progress in establishing itself as a thought leader in how Ireland’s businesses finance themselves. Its success demonstrates that those who create jobs in the domestic economy can do so with the help of a range of finance providers."
He added, "The SBCI is also offering finance providers new ways of engaging with their customer base. Additionally, I welcome the broad regional spread of SBCI lending to SMEs with 85% of lending outside of Dublin."
Source: www.businessworld.ie
