AIB said today that it has exceeded its Small and Medium Enterprises' lending targets of €3 billion in 2011.
It is also 17% ahead of its year to date target of €3.5 billion.
''Formal applications from customers improve accessibility to credit and year to date AIB has sanctioned 92% of formal applications,'' a statement said
The bank said that to stimulate credit demand for SMEs, over €400m in dedicated funds have been launched to encourage new lending, in addition to normal lending products.
''AIB strongly encourages people to come and talk to us about new lending and refinancing,'' commented the bank's head of business banking John Webb. He also that there are around 1,000 specialist staff in 40 locations around the bank's network for SME customers in difficulty.
Meanwhile, the two supported AIB supported seed capital funds have made new investments in eight businesses in the first six months of the year.
The AIB Seed Capital Fund has a total of €53m under management by Enterprise Equity Venture Capital and Dublin Business Innovation Centre. €23m of the fund in provided by Enterprise Ireland. Its Start-up Accelerator Fund manages a total of €22m, of which €2m was contributed by Enterprise Ireland.
In the first six months of 2012, the AIB See Capital Fund has supported five new investments in businesses such as medical devices and software for information technology. The AIB Accelerator Fund has supported three new businesses including a new social network business and a customer relationship management technology business.
AIB said that by June, both funds had raised €21.3m in 59 businesses which has helped to create a support to over 550 jobs since the funds were launched. The companies were mostly based in Dublin, but investments were also given to companies in Cork, Limerick, Donegal and Galway.
