Dubai: HSBC on Wednesday launched a further Dh1 billion as the second tranche of its fourth International Growth Fund (IGF) for UAE small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

The bank’s first allocation of Dh1 billion in 2013 has been fully assigned to businesses. The IGF is open to new and existing customers with cross border trading requirements or aspire to grow internationally, and have an annual turnover of Dh30 million and above.

“Confidence within the international SME segment is buoyant, and rightfully so. The country continues to perform very well across sectors and more recently, jumped a further four places in the World Economic Forum’s annual Global Competitiveness Index to twelfth position,” said Abdul Fattah Sharaf, Chief Executive Officer of HSBC Bank Middle East Limited — UAE.

SMEs contribute approximately 40 per cent of total UAE GDP, 70 per cent of non-oil GDP, and employ 42 per cent of its workforce. In addition, 70 per cent of the country’s SME’s are internationally oriented.

“We are absolutely committed to these businesses and the strength of this commitment is also demonstrated in our first half performance, which shows that we doubled our lending to international SMEs.

“As the UAE enjoys a positive outlook, we believe that this is a pivotal time to truly support SMEs through the Fund — helping them execute their international growth strategies to the best of their abilities,” said Sharaf.

Allocations

The first tranche of the fund launched in 2013 allocated about 40 per cent to SMEs in Abu Dhabi. While SMEs in Deira received 25 per cent of the Fund, SMEs Jebel Ali and the rest of Dubai received approximately 22 per cent and those in Sharjah and Northern Emirates were allocated 11 per of the Fund. In addition, 26 per cent of the Fund went to Emirati owned businesses seeking to further strengthen their international presence. Overall, the Fund was allocated at an average of Dh45 million per month.

The International Growth Fund is the fourth in HSBC’s flagship programme. HSBC was the first bank in the UAE to launch a dedicated SME Fund back in 2010 of which 67 per cent was awarded to customers with requirements for international trade facilities. This was then followed by a second Fund in 2011 — successfully allocated and of which 87 per cent was allocated to internationally oriented SMEs. The third Fund launched in 2012 was fully allocated in February this year with 84 per cent of the Fund allocated to international SMEs.