The scheme is an EIB initiative that enables eligible businesses investing in capital projects to secure loans through the scheme and therefore reduces the cost of their finance through a one-off cashback payment received when the loan is drawn, offsetting the costs of borrowing.
Barclays is one of a few UK banks to pass on benefits via a cashback payment and has pioneered this mode of benefit transfer in the UK market.
The scheme is being offered to businesses undertaking a capital investment project valued at between £5,000 and £22 million, with fewer than 250 employees and is one of many successful schemes Barclays offers in conjunction with the EIB, with the most recent being the £300m of finance made available to SMEs that will result in more than 1,100 Barclays customers benefiting from cashback payments totaling £1.8m.
Dan Roberts, Head of Debt Products, Barclays Corporate, said: “The benefit of this scheme is immediate: the cashback payment gives customers an extra helping hand in today’s challenging economic environment. By offering customers innovative ways to help weather these tough times we hope to cement our role as their strategic banking partner for many years to come.”
Roberts said the EIB loan was another key way in which Barclays is partnering with the UK and European Governments to offer support to SMEs. “We are well aware of the responsibility of banks in the current environment, and have developed a wide range of initiatives, both in partnership with Government and on our own, which assist businesses in challenging times. Fundamentally, we know that we cannot be successful without successful customers.”
In addition to the SMEs Barclays has assisted through the EIB scheme, the bank has also allocated £100 million to date in new loans to more than 1200 clients through the Enterprise Finance Guarantee scheme.
