In the first year of the JEREMIE three-year programme, Bank of Valletta sanctioned €27.9 million worth of loans, representing an investment by the 286 SME beneficiaries of €44.6 million.

The one year anniversary of BoV’s JEREMIE Initiative for SMEs was celebrated last week at the Vilhena Palace in Mdina. The JEREMIE programme provides capital for SMEs at reduced interest rates and with lower collateral requirements

In his opening speach BoV CEO Charles Borg said: “Together, we have translated the concept of an EU financial instrument – JEREMIE – from a dream into reality. Our results are indeed encouraging and I firmly believe that at Bank of Valletta we have set a benchmark for other EU member states.”

During the commemoration BoV showcased success stories to over 250 guests which included SME envoys coming from 27 EU member states and senior officials from the European Commission’s Directorate General Enterprise and Industry.

At the same time the SME envoys were in Malta to discuss access to finance, simplification of EU legislation for SMEs and how to boost entrepreneurship.

The EU’s SME envoy Daniel Calleja Crespo, the director general of the European Commission’s Directorate General for Enterprise and Industry – who led the delegation of SME envoys, said: “I would like to congratulate BoV on their good track record and also on their approach to financing requests in this context: Let us not be fooled, the idea behind these and other projects is not to support entrepreneurial ideas that are not economically feasible; the idea is to help those entrepreneurs that have good ideas with easier access to finance.”