Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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23. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the value of approvals made under the future growth loan scheme to date. [5645/21]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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The Future Growth Loan Scheme makes lending available to eligible SMEs and small mid-caps seeking financing for long-term strategic investment, including in response to the impacts of Brexit and COVID-19. 

The scheme was launched in April 2019 and initially made available up to €300m in lending to be delivered over a three-year window. However, following a rapid uptake of lending though the scheme, Government approved a €500m expansion of the scheme, which was launched at the end of July 2020, bringing the total lending capacity of the scheme to €800 million.

The scheme has continued to see a steady rate of loan approvals since then, and as of 29 of January, there have been a total of 3,024 loans approved to sanction under the scheme, to a total value of €611.1 million. 

Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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24. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the value of lending permitted under the future growth loan scheme by each lender accepting loan applications for the scheme. [5646/21]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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The Future Growth Loan Scheme makes lending available to SMEs and small mid-caps (up to 499 employees) seeking financing for long-term strategic investment, including in response to the impacts of Brexit and COVID-19. 

The scheme initially made available up to €300m in lending, however it was expanded by €500m in July of 2020 in response to the impacts of the pandemic. 

At present, there are five participating finance providers under the scheme: AIB, Bank of Ireland, KBC, Permanent TSB and Ulster Bank, all of which were awarded allocations under the competitive open call process.

As of the 29 of January 2021, 3,024 loans have been sanctioned through the Future Growth Loan Scheme to the value of €611.1 million.

The volume of lending allocated to each provider under the scheme may be considered commercially sensitive information for some lenders. However, based on the allocations made to the lenders, Bank of Ireland and AIB are currently not accepting new applications to the scheme as they are working through significant “pipelines” of loan applications. These existing pipelines of loan applications are likely to translate into tens of millions of further lending being made through the FGLS by these banks, and, likely to bring these lenders to their allocation limits under the scheme.

KBC, Ulster Bank and Permanent TSB, continue to have capacity within their allocations to accept new applications and the Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland [SBCI] are currently working to bring an additional lender to the scheme.

SMEs seeking to access the FGLS are encouraged to make an application through SBCI for an eligibility code for the scheme, which they can then bring to any of the participating lenders that are still accepting applications for the scheme.

Businesses that have been impacted by COVID-19 and are looking to invest are also encouraged to consider the COVID-19 CGS scheme, which allows for lending for investment purposes for up to five and half years at lower interest rates than available through the FGLS. 

Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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25. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the basis on which permitted total lending per lender was decided or allocated under the future growth loan scheme. [5647/21]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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The Future Growth Loan Scheme makes lending available to SMEs and small mid-caps (up to 499 employees) seeking financing for long-term strategic investment, including in response to the impacts of Brexit and COVID-19. 

The volume of lending allocated to each lender participating under the scheme was determined as part of a competitive “open call” process operated by the Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland [SBCI].

In order to be eligible to take part in the open call process, a lender must submit an expression of interest and meet a number of eligibility criteria. As part of this process, lenders submit an allocation that they expect they could deploy. Thereafter, potential participants are assessed by the SBCI and are scored on a number of features, including: the quality of their proposal for implementation of the scheme; ability to deploy a portfolio of the size proposed; the proposed interest rates under the scheme; and ability to provide finance to SMEs/small mid-caps at the scale being proposed.

The European Investment Fund [EIF], as counter-guarantor, then carries out a review of the applicant lenders and proposed allocations.

Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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26. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the remaining capacity for lending under the future growth loan scheme disaggregated by each participating lender. [5648/21]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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The Future Growth Loan Scheme makes lending available to SMEs and small mid-caps (up to 499 employees) seeking financing for long-term strategic investment, including in response to the impacts of Brexit and COVID-19. 

The Future Growth Loan Scheme provides for a total of €800 million in lending through participating financial providers. As of the 29 of January 2021, 3,024 loans have been sanctioned through the Future Growth Loan Scheme to the value of €611.1 million.

The quantities of funding made available to each of the participating finance providers were determined as part of a competitive “open call” process operated by the Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland.

The specific quantities of funding remaining to each of the participating lenders under the scheme may constitute commercially sensitive information for some lenders. 

However, based on the allocations made to the lenders, Bank of Ireland and AIB are currently not accepting new applications to the scheme as they are working through significant “pipelines” of loan applications. These existing pipelines of loan applications are likely to translate into tens of millions of further lending being made through the FGLS by these banks, and, likely to bring these lenders to their allocation limits under the scheme.

KBC, Ulster Bank and Permanent TSB, continue to have capacity within their allocations to accept new applications and the Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland [SBCI] are currently working to bring an additional lender to the scheme.

Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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27. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if he will consider reallocating the remaining capacity under the future growth loan scheme in order that fully subscribed lenders are in a position to lend under the scheme to business customers who wish to avail of the scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5649/21]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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The Future Growth Loan Scheme makes lending available to SMEs and small mid-caps (up to 499 employees) seeking financing for long-term strategic investment, including in response to the impacts of Brexit and COVID-19. 

The volume of lending allocated to each lender was determined as part of a competitive “open call” process operated by the Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland (SBCI). The European Investment Fund [EIF], acting as counter-guarantor to the scheme, subsequently approves the allocations based on its review of the lenders.

One of the objectives of the open call process is to stimulate competition across lenders. Another benefit of the scheme’s being offered through multiple participating lenders is to ensure a wider reach to the SME base and the differing cohorts of business that may have a financing requirement; for example, individual banks may have a focus on a given sector or type of business.

The full capacity of the scheme has been allocated to applicants that were successful under the open call process and these financial providers have entered into a contractual relationship with SBCI in relation to their allocation under the scheme.

The scheme is established to operate over a three-year window from time of allocation. The legal agreement with each approved lender has a portfolio trigger percentage, increasing over time, which specifies the expected scheme deployment rate. In the event that it is considered that a lender will not deploy their scheme allocation at the expected deployment rate then there is an option to reallocate this capacity from one lender to others. However, this trigger point has not yet been reached for any lender. The deployment rate of the lenders' scheme allocation is monitored on a quarterly basis, and reallocation of existing capacity will be undertaken if the trigger point for any lender is reached.