Jackie Cahill (Tipperary, Fianna Fail)
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148. To ask the Minister for Finance the reason the Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland will not accept an animal herd as collateral from a farmer for a business loan; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2968/17]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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The Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland (SBCI) began lending in March 2015 and its purpose is to increase the availability of low cost, flexible funding to SMEs. The SBCI does not lend directly to SMEs; rather it makes funding available to SMEs through both bank and specialist, non-bank finance providers, known as on-lenders. At present, the SBCI has eight on-lending partners.

SBCI Business loans are made available to farmers through its bank on-lenders under the Agricultural Investment Loan Scheme (AILS). All loan applications are subject to the relevant on-lender's normal lending criteria and credit decisions are solely the responsibility of the individual on-lender and not the SBCI. It is a matter for the on-lender to determine what represents sufficient collateral for a loan in the case of each loan application.