ICO, CERSA and Audiovisual SGR will facilitate financing for self-employed workers and SMEs

The agreement, which is part of the ICO-SGR Line, will facilitate access to financing for self-employed workers and audiovisual and cultural SMEs for an amount of up to 600,000 euros. The loans will be 100% guaranteed by Audiovisual SGR. The ICO, for its part, through CERSA, will guarantee 50% of the formalized operations to the SGR.

The Official Credit Institute (ICO), the Spanish Rebonding Company (CERSA) and the mutual guarantee company Audiovisual SGR have signed this Monday an agreement that will allow self-employed workers and companies in the audiovisual and cultural sector to finance operations of up to 600,000 euros, through the program that the ICO develops in collaboration with the mutual guarantee companies.

The agreement has been signed at the headquarters of the Official Credit Institute by its president, José María Ayala; the president of CERSA, Estela Gallego, and the president of Audiovisual SGR, Carlos Cuadros.

Under this agreement, loans subscribed by self-employed workers and companies in the cultural sector through the ICO-SGR Line will be 100% guaranteed by Audiovisual SGR. The ICO, for its part, through CERSA, will guarantee 50% of the formalized operations to the SGR.

Loan characteristics

The loans requested through this new product will have a maximum amount of 600,000 euros per client and may be used to finance investment or liquidity. In the case of financing investment, it cannot be older than one year, and must be carried out within a maximum period of three months from the formalization of the loan.

Liquidity loans will have a repayment period of three years, with a grace period included. In the case of financing investment, the amortization period will be seven years, including two grace years.

Loans formalized by self-employed workers and SMEs through this new line will have an interest rate of Euribor plus a differential of 3% and an opening commission of 0.5%, in addition to the cost of the guarantee granted by Audiovisual SGR, of up to 1%.

Self-employed workers and SMEs who want to request financing within the framework of this agreement must submit their applications to the ICO through www.icodirecto.es. The operations will be studied by the ICO and by Audiovisual SGR; if approved, they may be formalized through the collaborating financial entities.

Institutional collaboration

Due to the current economic situation, financial institutions are requesting greater guarantees from SMEs to access credit. In this context, the role of mutual guarantee companies is more necessary because, with their guarantee, they allow SMEs to access credit under more advantageous conditions.

In this way, thanks to the guarantees that the ICO and Audiovisual SGR will provide at 50%, the ICO funds made available to financial entities will flow more effectively to SMEs.

This is, without a doubt, a model of institutional collaboration for the benefit of the business community, especially SMEs, which will expand their possibilities of access to financing. This agreement is based on the Agreement adopted by the Council of Ministers on April 9, 2010, which urged the ICO to seek the establishment of agreements with the Reciprocal Guarantee Companies, through CERSA, that would allow financing operations to be channeled through the SGR, setting market price conditions adjusted to the distribution of risk.