La banca frente al coronavirus

A banking-sector guide from the COVID-19 crisis

La banca frente al coronavirus is an informational site launched by the Spanish Banking Association (AEB). It collects and explains measures adopted by Spain’s banking sector in response to the COVID-19 crisis. Its content focuses on loans backed by Spain’s Official Credit Institute (ICO) and eligibility requirements for self-employed workers and small and midsize businesses.

What the guide covers

The site offers a practical guide to ICO-backed loans for self-employed workers and small and midsize businesses that needed liquidity during the public-health crisis. Its question-and-answer format covers topics including:

• What ICO-backed loans are and what they are intended to do.
• Who could apply: registered businesses and self-employed workers subject to the IAE tax, whether or not they had employees.
• Requirements: not being classified as delinquent in the CIRBE credit-risk database as of December 31, 2019, and not being in insolvency proceedings as of March 17, 2020.
• Limits and terms: financing of up to 100% of liquidity needs, with guarantees covering 80% of the principal for self-employed workers and small and midsize businesses, and lower percentages for other companies.
• Application deadlines: initially through September 30, 2020, with a possible extension through December 31, 2020; the deadline for the new guarantee program was December 1, 2020.
• Maximum amounts: up to €1.5 million per borrower under certain terms, or higher limits under the Temporary Framework for State Aid.
• Guarantee tranches: four tranches approved by the Council of Ministers, totaling €100 billion.

Policy context

The information refers to Royal Decree-Law 8/2020 and Royal Decree-Law 25/2020, which established public guarantee programs to support economic recovery and employment. The site also says banks committed not to require customers to purchase other products as a condition of granting these guaranteed loans.