The regional financial institution has signed partnership agreements with the consular chambers of Hérault and Aude. Another will soon follow with the Pyrénées-Orientales chamber.
Business leaders supported by the Hérault Chamber of Commerce and Industry will be able to benefit from a 1% subsidized loan, called “Cooperation Loan + x”. The envelope is intended for “finance their investment projects, their ecological transition and the diversification of their activities”. A partnership agreement has just been signed by André Deljarry, president of the CCI Hérault, and Cyril Brun, general director of the Banque populaire du sud.
The latter provides a total envelope of 2.5 million euros for the year 2024, for, as the president of the Hérault consular chamber reminds us, which constitutes a “unprecedented initiative to support businesses supported by the CCI Hérault”. This is a “new tool that meets the expectations of business leaders”.
“The level of rates has bitten the desire to invest”
Concretely, each business leader supported by the CCI Hérault will be able to apply for this subsidized loan, the maximum amount of which will be 20,000 euros. It can be increased to 25,000 euros if the project is linked to an energy transition approach. “This subsidized loan is intended to help economic development, at a time when rates are generally between 4% and 5%”explains Cyril Brun.
A godsend because, he admits, “some times, the level of rates has bitten the investment desires of business leaders”. At the same time, the regional bank made three commitments: “we undertake to give an appointment within 24 hours to the beneficiary of the loan; each project leader will have the direct mobile telephone number of their advisor; we undertake to provide a rapid response within 7 days”.
“Up to 30% of the total project amount”
For André Deljarry, this new tool must constitute a “leverage“, in the sense in which it goes “to boost additional loans”. The president of the CCI Hérault suggests that the subsidized loan could be renewed in 2025. The duration of the loan is 5 years maximum and its amount should make it possible to represent “up to 30% of the total amount of the project”, specifies Cyril Brun.
In addition to the consular chamber of Hérault, the latter has also signed a similar agreement with the Chamber of Commerce of Aude. The overall envelope reaches, for this year, 1.5 million euros. By the end of May, the same agreement will be signed with the Pyrénées-Orientales Chamber of Commerce and Industry, with a budget of 1 million euros.
