Specialised Facilities

Other instruments for financing higher risk innovative investment in the SME and medium-sized corporate sector include:

• Risk Sharing Finance Facility (RSFF)
  RSFF is an innovative scheme to improve access to debt financing for private companies, including SMEs, or public institutions promoting activities in the field of research, development and inovation.
• SME Finance Facility
  The SME Finance Facility has been developed with the EIB, European Commission, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), and the Council of Europe Development Bank (CEB) in association with Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW) to encourage intermediary banks and leasing companies to expand and strengthen their financing of SME operations in the Member States that joined the EU since 2004 as well as the Accession Countries - Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Romania, Croatia and Turkey.
• Preparatory Action - Support for SMEs in the New Financial Environment
  The Preparatory Action is a European Commission programme to facilitate SME access to financing in the States that joined the European Union in May 2004. The facility is particularly targeting micro-lending and with grants to finance Technical Assistance (TA) to SMEs, coupled with an EIF guarantee or an EIB line of credit.