On November 16th 2011 the Agentschap NL has on assignment of RCN/EL&I (Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Innovation) organized a workshop on Guarantee Scheme for Business Financing BES to employees of various banks on Bonaire. The workshop is geared towards employees of banks who in their work deal with setting up and evaluating financing requests of companies.
A technical workshop will be held for banks on St. Maarten which do business with St. Eustatius and Saba. The St. Eustatius and Saba Chamber of Commerce will organize workshops for the business communities on November 22nd on Saba and November 23rd on St. Eustatius.
The workshop has among others the objective to familiarize workers with the most important guarantee schemes in support of business financing in Caribbean Netherlands and to provide them with the knowledge and instruments to apply the regulations in the correct and efficient manner. This way an important contribution can be made to increasing the scope of the schemes, whereby banks run less risks when granting business loans and enterprise has better access to financing opportunities.
Practical examples
The work shop, based on clear practical examples in banking and the Agentschap NL, will show how the scheme can be applied and how it functions. The schemes which will be dealt with are among others de GO-regulation, the Groeifaciliteit (Growth-facility) and the emphasis placed on the Suretyship regulation MKB-loans.
Cooperation agreement
The trainers are Roland Starmans, Sector Manager MKB Networks and Financing and Annemieke Busch, Account Manager MKB Financing. Participants included the MCB Bank, Giro Bank, RBTT Bank and Banco di Caribe. MCB and Giro Bank have meanwhile signed the cooperation agreement with the Dutch State and are already participating in the BMKB regulation. Participation from other banks is anticipated.
Curacao
The same workshop will be held this coming Friday November 18th on Curacao, so that employees of main branches (where mainly risks analysis of business loans take place) can also take part. Participation is expected from MCB Bank, Giro Bank, RBTT, First Caribbean International Bank, Banco di Caribe, OBNA Bank and National Investment Bank NV..Background information
The Agentschap NL executes the guarantee schemes which should limit the financial risk for financial institutions. Banks which make use of the guarantee schemes can transfer (carry over) the financing risk to the government. This is how the government intends to lend the market for business loans concrete support.