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Brexit Impact Loan Scheme

The Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment and the Department of Agriculture Food and the Marine have recently launched a new loan scheme, the “Brexit Impact Loan Scheme” targeted to SMEs (including farmers and fishers) and small mid-caps that have been impacted by Brexit.

The Brexit Impact Loan Scheme (BILS) is a successor to the Brexit Loan Scheme and provides low-cost loans to eligible Brexit-impacted businesses. The new Scheme is also open to businesses in the primary agriculture and seafood sectors and the loans under the scheme are for terms of up to six years. The scheme is delivered by the Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland (SBCI) through participating lenders.

Loan features:

  • Loans range from €25,000 to €1.5m
  • Loan terms from 1-6 years
  • Loans of up to €500,000 available unsecured

Loans can be used for:

  • Liquidity/Working capital
  • Investment
  • 100% refinancing of existing Brexit Loan Scheme loans
  • Refinancing of existing short-term credit, up to a maximum of 30% of the new loan

Businesses eligible for the scheme:

This scheme is available to eligible SME and small Mid-Cap businesses, including primary producers (businesses engaged in farming and fishing), established in Ireland.

A business must also have experienced an adverse impact of minimum 15% in actual or projected turnover or profit due to the impact of Brexit.

Loans provided under the scheme will be lower than is otherwise typically available on similar lending in the market and will vary according to the lender. Lenders participating in the scheme will be separated into two cohorts. For the first, interest rates will be variable, but are capped at an initial maximum rate of 3.7% for loans less than €250,000 and 2.75% for loans of €250,000 and above. For loans from the remaining lenders, a minimum discount of 1% relative to their standard rates will be required to for loans under the BILS.

Application process:
To apply for lending under the scheme you will need to complete a simple eligibility application in order to get a code from the SBCI. You can apply for this code from the SBCI’s website sbci.gov.ie
You can then use this code to apply for lending through a participating lender.