SBCI Partnership
The Covid-19 Credit Guarantee Scheme (Covid-19 CGS) is made available by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment (DETE) and operated by the Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland (SBCI), further details can be found on the SBCI Website
Key Features
The Scheme is aimed at helping businesses that have experienced an adverse impact of a minimum of 15% in actual or projected turnover or profit, due to the impact of COVID-19
A Guarantee for a percentage of the loan is provided for facilities from €10,000 to €1 million. Total facilities may not exceed €1 million
Eligible funding under the Scheme includes Equipment and Machinery Hire Purchase, Leasing and Refinance
No additional security will be required for loans of up to €250,000 outside of the normal criteria of Capitalflow’s Asset Finance products
The maximum amount you can borrow is based on: 25% of your total 2019 business turnover; or double your annual wage bill for 2019
Capitalflow will provide a blended discount rate of 15% off normal rates quoted. This discount rate will be detailed in your loan documentation on signing. Rates ranging from 4% to 10% depending on product, sector and risk, in addition as part of the approval and qualification for the Scheme.
Who Can Apply
To apply for a COVID 19 Credit Guarantee Scheme funding, you must be one of the following:
- has fewer than 10 employees
- has a turnover and/or balance sheet of €2 million or less
- has fewer than 250 employees
- has a turnover of €50 million or less (or €43 million or less on their balance sheet)
- is independent and autonomous i.e. not part of a wider group of enterprises
- has less than 25% of their capital held by public bodies
- is established and operating in the Republic of Ireland
- is not an SME
- has fewer than 500 employees.
- A person who is engaged in primary production which is the production, rearing or growing of primary products including harvesting, milking and farmed animal production prior to slaughter. It also includes hunting and fishing and the harvesting of wild products.
Frequently Asked Questions
As Facilities
A guarantee premium, payable to the government, will apply to all Covid-19 CGS loans. It represents the cost to the government of providing the 80% guarantee to participating lenders.
This premium is payable in addition to your loan repayments. We will collect it quarterly by direct debit and pass it on to the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment (DETE):
| SMEs | Duration of Credit | 1 year | 2 Year | 3 Year | 4 Year | 5 Year | 5 ½ Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rate % | 0.15 | 0.26 | 0.29 | 0.50 | 0.61 | 0.68 | |
| Small Mid-Cap | Duration of Credit | 1 year | 2 Year | 3 Year | 4 Year | 5 Year | 5 ½ Year |
| Rate % | 0.30 | 0.63 | 0.73 | 1.19 | 1.40 | 1.55 |
You can apply directly through our website (below). We may need some documents to help us make a decision about your loan application. These may include: 2019 Management Accounts; or 2019 Certified Accounts; or 2019 Audited Accounts. In certain cases, a business plan may be required. Our Team will be happy to help guide you on this – just call us 01-5632400!
NACE, or the Statistical Classification of Economic Activities in the European Community, is the European Union’s system for classifying different business sectors. You can get a list of
eligible NACE codes for this scheme from the SBCI.
- Customers in financial difficulty (as defined with the meaning of Annex 1 of the Commission Regulation (EC) No 702/2014 (as amended from time to time) and currently available here), as at 31st December 2019
- Customers seeking to refinance existing debt not impacted by COVID19 e.g.: Refinance of an existing loan to avail of cheaper rate. Roll up of existing facilities onto one loan under the scheme Refinance of long term overdraft, in debit pre COVID19 are an undertaking in difficulty
- Customers operating in one or more Excluded Sectors
- Customers who are bankrupt or being wound up or having their affairs administered by the courts aid
- Customers who, in the last five years have entered into an arrangement with creditors, in the context of being bankrupt or wound-up or having its affairs administered by the courts
- In derogation to the foregoing, aid can be granted to Micro or Small Enterprises (within the meaning of Annex I of the General Block Exemption Regulation) that were already in difficulty on 31 December 2019, provided that they are not subject to collective insolvency procedure under national law, and that they have not received rescue aid or restructuring
The following NACE codes are also excluded:
- B MINING AND QUARRYING
- 061000 Extraction of crude petroleum
- 062000 Extraction of natural gas
- 091000 Support activities for petroleum and natural gas extraction
- C MANUFACTURING
- 120000 Manufacture of tobacco products
- 254000 Manufacture of weapons and ammunition
- 304000 Manufacture of military fighting vehicles
- F CONSTRUCTION
- 410000 Construction of buildings
- 412000 Construction of residential and non-residential buildings
- L REAL ESTATE ACTIVITIES
- 681000 Buying and selling of own real estate
- R ARTS, ENTERTAINMENT AND RECREATION
- 920000 Gambling and betting activities
- K FINANCIAL AND INSURANCE ACTIVITIES
- 641000 Monetary intermediation
You can borrow loans from €10,000 up to €1,000,000 subject to eligibility criteria.
Under the rules of the scheme as set out by the Department of Enterprise Trade and Employment (DETE), the loan amount you are seeking cannot be more than: 25% of your turnover in 2019, or double your annual wage bill in 2019 or the last year available. However, the maximum amount of the credit that is permitted to be advanced to a borrower under the Scheme cannot exceed €1m.
Your wage bill should include social charges as well as the cost of personnel working on site but formally in the payroll of subcontractors.
For businesses set up after 1 January 2019, the loan cannot be more than the estimated annual wage bill for the first two years in operation. You can take out more than one loan, subject to the overall CGS limits per borrower and your capacity to repay.
Asset Finance, Hire Purchase and Leasing are available – terms range, typically 1- 5 years in duration.
It will run from December 2020 until 30th June 2022 or until it is fully subscribed. Please be aware that Capitalflow will not accept new applications under this Scheme from the 15th June 2022.
Covid 19 Credit Guarantee Scheme
Lower Cost Funding for Irish Business
with support from the Dept of Enterprise, Trade and Employment (DETE)
and the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM)
