For over 4 years, as a result of Legislative Decree 179/2012 innovative startups intending to obtain a bank loan can request the intervention of the SME Guarantee Fund (FGPMI) for free, following a simplified procedure which excludes a further creditworthiness assessment with respect to that already carried out by the credit institution, for guarantee transactions up to 2,5 million euro. As of last September 30, the reference date for the 13th Quarterly Report, 1.586 innovative startups had received a loan guaranteed by the FGPMI, for a total amount of approximately 540 million, distributed over 2.533 transactions (482 startups received more than a loan). In particular, new disbursements of €61,5 million were recorded in the last three months.
If you take a look at the regional distribution, the FGPMI is used more frequently by innovative startups in the Centre-North: Lombardy stands out, which holds the record for number of operations (666) and resources mobilized (about 175 million), followed by Emilia-Romagna and Veneto. Friuli-Venezia Giulia and Trentino-Alto Adige are at the top for rate of use of the tool on the regional total of registered startups.
The loans disbursed amount to an average of 212 thousand euros and have a maturity of approximately four and a half years, while just over a quarter of the operations are short-term, i.e. have an expected duration of 18 months or less. At present, transactions that have already reached maturity without activation of the guarantee represent 9,2% of the total, while 65% is in regular amortisation.
For just over a year, the possibility of using the Guarantee Fund in a free and simplified way has also been extended to innovative SMEs and the use of this measure is experiencing rapid expansion. Hence, since June 2016, there have been 141 authorized transactions with this type of company, a good 40 more than at 30 June 2017, of which 108 have already resulted in the disbursement of a loan. The total disbursed reaches 34,5 million, an increase of 8.5 million from the previous quarter.
