New Zealand’s banks are offering up to a total of $6.25 billion in guaranteed loans to businesses financially impacted by Covid-19. Eligible businesses can apply to their bank for new lending under the scheme from April 1st 2020.
The scheme will provide individual business loans up to $500,000. To be eligible to apply to the scheme businesses must be New Zealand based with an annual turnover between $250,000 and $80 million.
Under the scheme banks will make available new lending to eligible businesses. The loans will be supported by a guarantee in a risk-sharing agreement with the Government. The Government will cover 80 per cent of the risk and banks will cover 20 per cent. That amounts to a total of $5 billion for Government and $1.25 billion for banks.
Banks participating in the scheme include ANZ, ASB, BNZ, Heartland Bank, HSBC, Kiwibank, SBS Bank, TSB and Westpac.
Businesses seeking to apply for a loan under the scheme should visit their bank’s website for more information before contacting their bank to discuss their eligibility and the assessment process.