From 2009 to October 2018 were the SMEs that benefited from the initiatives put in place by the banks, assisted by Abi, to support the availability of credit. This was a huge effort at a time when the Italian economy experienced a phase of recession-stagnation among the deepest and most persistent of those recorded in the annals of post-war economic statistics.
Faced with this scenario, to mitigate the adverse effects of a fall in operations, the banking world has implemented a series of initiatives aimed at the various economic sectors across the country. Initiatives that banks continue to confirm at full speed even now in the phase of economic recovery.
The intervention action has developed along guidelines that have been implemented in five phases:
• provide financial assistance to companies in difficulty (Joint Notice - August 2009);
• identify new measures in favor of healthy companies, and with growth prospects, aimed at rebalancing the financial structure and expanding access to credit (the SME Credit Agreement - February 2011);
• ensure the availability of adequate financial resources to SMEs that, despite registering tensions in terms of liquidity, nevertheless presented positive economic prospects. Thus, the aim was to create the conditions for overcoming the negative situation and a greater ability to ferry them to a hoped reversal of the economic cycle (New measures for credit to SMEs - February 2012). In this sense, the financing of entrepreneurial investment projects was also favored.
• re-propose the measures of suspension and extension of loans similar to those put in place with the "New measures for credit to SMEs" for companies with a temporary financial tension generated by the economic situation, for example due to the presence of one or more of the following phenomena: reduction in turnover, reduction of the operating margin with respect to turnover, increase in the incidence of financial charges on turnover, reduction of the company's self-financing capacity. The granting of loans for an amount proportional to the increase in the company's own resources is also envisaged. (Credit agreement - July 2013).
• Along the same lines, the 2015 Credit Agreement between the ABI and the Business Representation Associations.
In particular:
the formula for the suspension of loan installments concerned 462.025 for a residual debt of 126,3 billion euro and greater liquidity available to companies equal to 25 billion euro;
the opportunities to extend the amortization plan affected 29.016 Pmi equal to 8 billion of residual debt.
Please note that from November 2018 the ABI and the other Business Associations have signed the New 2019 Credit Agreement, in force from 1 January 2019 to 31 December 2020, which renews the suspension and extension measures of loans to SMEs , in light of the new market and regulatory context.
