Covid-19 Credit Guarantee Scheme

The COVID-19 pandemic has severely disrupted economic activity. The Covid-19 Credit Guarantee Scheme (Covid-19 CGS) was set up to encourage lenders to support recovery by providing lower-cost funding to businesses coping with the impact of Covid-19. If your business has been affected by Covid-19, you can apply for funding through our existing products, equipment/vehicle leasing, and HP at a lower rate.
Please note, the maximum term on any applications after after the 1st June 2022 is 60 months (5 year).

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.

Asset Finance, Hire Purchase and Leasing are available – terms range, typically 1- 5 years in duration.

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.

  • 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

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.

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!

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