Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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93. To ask the Minister for Finance the investment the German bank KfW has made here through the Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland to date; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3706/16]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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The Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland (SBCI) was created to ensure increased lending, at a lower cost, to Irish SME's by channelling lower cost financing from European Investment Bank (EIB) and KfW though lending partners known as on-lenders. The SBCI was launched in February 2015, and commenced lending via its initial on-lending partners, Bank of Ireland and AIB, in March 2015. KfW, the German State promotional bank, provided the SBCI with a funding facility of €150m for the purposes of providing lower-cost longer-term funding to Irish SMEs. The SBCI also has a funding agreement with the EIB for a finance facility of €400m.

The SBCI has made significant progress since its launch and to the end of December 2015 almost €172 million has been lent to c.4,600 SMEs across Ireland. The loans have been taken up by SMEs for a variety of purposes and across a range of sectors in the economy.  More than 80% of loans were for investment purposes and the average loan size is approximately €37,000.