Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail)
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151. To ask the Minister for Finance the action he is taking to increase the rate of credit lending to businesses via the Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland; the level of take-up from the fund by businesses at 31 December 2016; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9440/17]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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The Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland (SBCI) began lending in March 2015. Its aim is to increase the availability of funding to Irish SMEs, at a lower cost and on more flexible terms, than has been available in recent times on the Irish Market. The SBCI does not lend directly to SMEs, rather it channels its funds through lending partners known as on-lenders. It currently has three bank and five non-bank on-lending partners and the SBCI is actively seeking to add new on-lenders in 2017, thereby broadening its distribution capability and market coverage. In doing so, the SBCI will promote competition in the SME Finance Market.

To the end of September 2016, the SBCI has lent €458 million to 10,684 SMEs operating across all sectors of the Irish economy including manufacturing, agriculture, food, retail, healthcare, transport and construction. The SBCI will shortly publish lending figures to the end of December 2016, which are expected to show a significant increase in lending. These figures will be available on the SBCI's website www.sbci.gov.ie.

The SBCI has a significant funding capacity, over €1 billion, which it is using to support Irish SMEs investing in and growing their businesses. The SBCI also has a COSME risk sharing agreement in place with the European Investment Fund (EIF). This facility will be used to enable the delivery of SBCI guarantee products and further facilitate the provision of additional credit to Irish SMEs.