A new guarantee agreement to help start-ups and micro-enterprises, BOV Start Plus, was launched following an agreement reached between the European Investment Fund (EIF) and Bank of Valletta.

This is the first CIP (Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme) Guarantee agreement in Malta. The agreement was unveiled in the presence of Prime Minister Joseph Muscat during an event organised at BOV Centre.

Commenting on the signature, EIF head of guarantees, securitisation and microfinance Alessandro Tappi said: “We are pleased to be launching the first guarantee agreement under the CIP Programme with Bank of Valletta for the benefit of micro-enterprises in Malta. Bank of Valletta is one of EIF’s long-term partners and we expect that the loans granted thanks to this agreement will be rapidly channelled to micro-enterprises which need financing the most”.

John Cassar White, Bank of Valletta chairman, said: “Over 592 SMEs benefitted from financing through the BOV Jeremie, a scheme which was so popular that it was oversubscribed 10 months before it expired. Its success led to an extension of a further €11 million a few months ago. Now, we are taking our commitment further by launching the BOV Start Plus Scheme.

“Today’s agreement is another important milestone not only for Bank of Valletta, but also for the country. Through this centralised EU financial engineering instrument, we shall be addressing a major concern of start ups and micro-enterprises – namely access to finance”

Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said the government was aware of the challenges being faced by SMEs to access finance and encouraged financial institutions to apply for both centralised and decentralised EU programmes to help this important segment of the Maltese economy.