Partnership agreements with financial entities for 2015 now signed

ICO issues loans worth 21.47 billion euros in 2014

News - 2015.1.19

The ICO [Official Credit Institute] signed partnership agreements on Monday with 10 financial entities for the issue of ICO Lines of Credit in 2015. The signing ceremony was attended by the State Secretary for Economic Affairs and Support for Companies, Íñigo Fernández de Mesa; the President of the ICO, Irene Garrido; and representatives from the 10 financial entities that issued the highest volume of ICO loans in 2014: Banco Popular, Banco Santander, Banco Sabadell, BBVA, Bankia, La Caixa, Bankinter, Ibercaja, Bantierra and Targobank .

The loan issue target for the ICO in 2015 amounts to 14 billion euros. With this financing volume, the ICO is adapting its role in the credit market to the new situation of economic recovery in Spain. The public institute has played an important counter-cyclical role in providing financial support to SMEs during the most acute stages of the crisis and will now be gradually replaced by private financial entities, which are now in a better position to issue loans due to improved market conditions.

The ICO will continue providing finance to the Spanish business sector, with a greater emphasis on financing activities in the foreign trade sector and consolidating its contribution in the field of guarantees. Enhancing venture capital through FOND-ICO Global will also be one of the strategic priorities this year, aimed at improving the non-bank financing of Spanish SMEs by raising their capitalisation level, facilitating deleveraging and improving their competitiveness through the necessary diversification of finance sources.

Record loans in 2014

The ICO closed 2014 having issued loans worth a total of 21.47 billion euros, an increase of 55% on the previous year and a record in the mediation history of the ICO. Almost 300,000 investment projects for self-employed workers and SMEs were financed by these loans. It is worth noting the significant capillarity in the distribution of these loans: 51% are below 25,000 euros and 62% were issued to micro-enterprises with less than 10 employees. International credit activity accounted for 25% of the loans issued by the public institute last year, thereby meeting its target to finance the export and international expansion of public companies.