The SME Financing Guarantee Scheme (“Scheme”) was launched on 1 January 2011 by The Hong Kong Mortgage Corporation Limited (“HKMC”). Since 1 May 2018, the Scheme business has been transferred to and carried on by HKMC Insurance Limited (“HKMCI”), a wholly-owned subsidiary of the HKMC.
Objective and Guarantee Coverage
The Scheme aims at helping local small and medium-sized enterprises (“SMEs”) and non-listed enterprises (collectively, “Enterprises”) to obtain financing from participating lenders (“Lenders”) for meeting their business needs so as to enhance their productivity and competitiveness in the rapidly changing business environment. Under the Scheme, the HKMCI may provide guarantee coverage of 50%, 60% or 70% to the credit facilities of eligible Enterprises approved by the Lenders.
Special 100% Loan Guarantee under the Scheme (“Special 100% Loan Guarantee”)
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Important Note to Loan Applicants under the Special 100% Loan Guarantee of the SME Financing Guarantee Scheme (“Scheme”):
HKMC Insurance Limited (“HKMCI”) wishes to alert the members of the public to beware of anyone offering to make loan applications or obtain approval for a loan under the Scheme for a fee. Loan applicants are reminded that: 1. they need not engage or appoint any third party (except the participating lenders under the Scheme (“Lenders”)) to apply for a loan under the Scheme. Any loan application prepared by or submitted through a third party may incur unnecessary financial costs or loss to the applicant and expose the applicant’s personal data to the risk of disclosure to or misuse by an unscrupulous third party; 2. they should apply for a loan under the Scheme directly through the Lenders which will provide assistance without levying any application fee or handling fee; and 3. the Lenders and HKMCI will not tolerate any illegal conduct (e.g. making a false declaration or using a false instrument) and will report suspected illegal conduct to the relevant law enforcement agencies.
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To ease the cash flow problems of Enterprises adversely affected by the outbreak of COVID-19, the Financial Secretary announced in the 2020-21 Budget Speech that a Special 100% Loan Guarantee would be introduced under the Scheme. The Special 100% Loan Guarantee aims at alleviating the financial burden of paying employee wages and rents by the Enterprises which are suffering from reduced income and to help minimise the Enterprises shutting down and layoffs. The loans under the Special 100% Loan Guarantee are fully guaranteed by the Government at a concessionary low-interest rate. The Special 100% Loan Guarantee started to receive applications on 20 April 2020.
In order to further alleviate the cash flow pressure of the Enterprises due to the rapid deterioration of the business environment following the outbreak and spread of the COVID-19, the Government has introduced various enhancements to and relief measures under the Special 100% Loan Guarantee.
The eligible Enterprises must have been operating for at least three months in Hong Kong as at 31 March 2022, and have suffered at least a 30% decline in sales turnover in any month since February 2020 (“Affected Period”) compared with the monthly average of any preceding quarter from January 2019 to March 2022 (“Reference Period”), provided that the Affected Period must not be earlier than the Reference Period.
The maximum loan amount for each eligible Enterprise is the total amount of employee wages and rents for 27 months or HK$9 million, whichever is the lower. The maximum repayment period is ten years and the maximum duration of principal moratorium is 30 months.
The application period for the Special 100% Loan Guarantee is until 30 June 2023.
Please refer to the SME Financing Guarantee Scheme Factsheet for detailed features of the Special 100% Loan Guarantee, and the enhancements and relief measures introduced.
Application Procedure
Loan applicants (including the existing Borrowers submitting top-up applications) should contact the Lenders to apply for the loan or credit facility. The Lenders will use their professional expertise, judgement and care in conducting customer due diligence, reviewing each application, and verifying the eligibility of each loan applicant before submitting the guarantee applications and relevant supporting documents to the HKMCI for review and approval.