AIB has approved €60m worth of loans made available through the Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland.
The SBCI fund, which is backed by the European Investment Bank, the Irish Strategic Investment Fund and Germany’s KfW, makes low-cost commercial loans available via commercial banks.
There is currently €400m available to lend to SMEs - split between AIB and Bank of Ireland.
AIB said that 1,300 customers had so far received approval for loans from the fund.
The bank said that the rate, which is two percentage points lower than standard at 4.5%, meant there was strong lending from companies and farmers for funding.
