The scope of this factsheet is to serve as guidance for European Social Fund (ESF) managing authorities that decide to set up a microcredit financial instrument.

This factsheet aims to provide an overview of the State aid rules with implications for the use of financial instruments financed through the European Social Fund (ESF) in a concise and user-friendly manner. The factsheet is based on the relevant European Union (EU) Regulation, available fi-compass resources and the European Commission’s (EC) ‘Guidance on State aid in European Structural and Investment (ESI) Funds Financial instruments in the 2014-2020 programming period’.

This case study illustrates how financial engineering instruments co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) were used in Cyprus, a Member State with no prior experience of this type of support, to address the lack of finance for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The financial products (loans with lower interest rates and lower collateral requirements than commercial bank loans) supported the sustainable development of over 500 Cypriot SMEs, contributing to regional development in Cyprus.

This case study shows how close cooperation between stakeholders led to a well-positioned financial instrument that could provide finance to micro, small and medium-sized enterprises in a crisis-hit market. Set up under the TEPIX (or ‘Entrepreneurship Fund’) holding fund, the ‘TEPIX Business Restart’ Action was co-funded by the European Regional Development Fund through five Greek Operational Programmes. The financial instrument provided loans across Greece to existing SMEs and start-ups.

This case study provides an overview of the implementation of Estonia’s European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF) financial instrument set-up during the 2014–2020 programming period, which provides investment loans for aquaculture development as well as growth loans and long-term investment loans for fish processors.