Hellenic Development Bank: Affordable loans for 100,000 SMEs

The Hellenic Development Bank plans to increase the number of small and medium enterprises it finances to 100,000 over time, through planned new programs that it will make available in the coming years.

According to the data released yesterday, the Bank, in the last two years, disbursed 8.4 billion euros through 41,000 loans.

Thus, almost 50% of the pre-pandemic funding gap was covered. At the same time, with this support it is estimated that 18,600 new jobs were created.

For the next three years, the Hellenic Development Bank will attempt to increase credits by approximately €3 billion. Of this, €2 billion will be channeled through new products created in collaboration with the European Investment Bank (EIB) to promote innovation, while €1 billion will be given to projects related to green and sustainable development.

These funds are possible through the utilization of various state funding sources, such as the NSRF, the Public Investment Program and regional funds, totaling more than 3.5 billion euros, while in some cases there will also be a partnership with private funds.

According to two executive members of the Bank’s Board of Directors, Athina Hatzipetrou and Pantelis Tzortzakis, through the structural changes in the organization and the change in its mode of operation, the conditions are now in place to offer programs that will contribute to further improving extroversion and competitive advantage for small and medium enterprises.

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For his part, the competent Minister of Development and Investments, Adonis Georgiadis, noted, among other things, that the Hellenic Development Bank managed to be the first in the EU to design and activate financial tools during the pandemic crisis, supporting thousands of businesses and tens of thousands of jobs.

In the next period, the minister stressed, the Bank will create new, innovative and flexible financial tools.

Programs currently open

The following programs are currently available for small and medium businesses:

Innovation Guarantee Fund

The Innovation Guarantee Fund is the first financial tool that aims to support innovative start-ups and existing Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) of any legal form, which promote research and innovation that document their innovative nature, through their Business Plan and related supporting documents.

The financial tool supports the competitiveness of innovative SMEs, combines for the first time the provision of a loan guarantee and a grant of 20% of the loan capital, offering investment loans and working capital, through participating banks.

The maximum loan amount is 400,000 euros, while the minimum is 25,000 euros.

Investment Loans (TEPIX II)

With the sub-program of investment loans of the “Business Financing” Action of the Entrepreneurship II Fund (TEPIX II) promotes the facilitation of the access of very small, small and medium enterprises to financial mechanisms, strengthening Greek investment activities.

These are new co-financed loans, with participation in the capital of each loan by 40% interest-free capital from the Hellenic Development Bank and by 60% from the participating banks, creating leverage of public resources.

The amount of the loan ranges from 25,000 to 1,500,000 euros

Guarantee Fund for Audiovisual Projects Enterprises

It was created to guarantee loans through partner banks in order to give access to financing to small and medium-sized enterprises active in the audio-visual production sector.

Both for investment loans and for working capital, the amount of financing ranges from 25,000 to 900,000 euros.

Hellenic Development Bank – Engineers and Public Works Contractors Fund (TMEDE) Guarantee Fund

The fund provides a loan guarantee through eight cooperating banks (Alpha Bank, National Bank, Piraeus Bank, Eurobank Bank, Attica Bank, Optima Bank, Karditsa Cooperative Bank, Thessaly Cooperative Bank), providing access to loans for thousands of SMEs and scientific freelancers like engineers, architects and builders of public works who are represented by the Engineers and Public Works Contractors Fund (TMEDE), in order to carry out projects or studies of public interest.

Western Macedonia Development Fund

The specific program was created with the co-investment of the Hellenic Development Bank (HDB) and the Region of Western Macedonia in order to deal with the extraordinary conditions brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic to the local economy of Western Macedonia, .

The co-financed loans will be given through selected credit institutions, with the aim of providing working capital on favorable terms for businesses in the region.