Nordea has introduced a range of guaranteed lending solutions to SMEs in Finland, Sweden and Denmark together with the European Investment Fund under its new guarantee programme, the European Guarantee Fund (EGF).
The guarantee programme enables Nordea to offer €1bn of new financing to its customers on more favourable terms.
Nina Arkilahti, head of business banking, commented: “We want to contribute actively to initiatives supporting SMEs that are driving economic recovery and fuelling growth. This is yet another tool for us to support our customers.”
Channel much needed finance
The European Guarantee Fund was recently founded by the European Investment Bank Group, comprising the EIB and the EIF, to ensure that SMEs in EU member states with sustainable business plans are provided with liquidity to overcome covid-19-related adversities and that healthy businesses are supported to grow.
EIF chief executive Alain Godard says: “The EGF is a pan-European tool, part of the EU’s recovery package, that will allow us to heavily increase our support for small businesses, in the Nordics and other EU member states.
“Businesses have suffered massively over the last year and we’re thankful that we can build on our partnership with Nordea to channel much needed financing to them.”
The European Guarantee Fund programme supplements Nordea’s lending capacity, as well as lending solutions for SMEs.
Arkilahti adds: “In the coming weeks, Nordea will start reaching out to relevant customers with healthy business plans and present this additional opportunity to improve their liquidity situation on favourable and safe terms.”
Nordea is the largest corporate bank in the Nordics with around 500,000 corporate customers and lending volumes of around €85bn.
