Chile's state-sponsored loan guarantee fund Fogape has auctioned a total of US$77m in loan guarantees for small company lending to local banks, Fogape administrator BancoEstado said in a statement.
The amount of the guarantees was the largest Fogape has ever auctioned in a quarter due to increased demand from local banks and more participating banks in the auction, BancoEstado president Jamie Estevez said.
A total of 16 banks signed up for the loan guarantees including, for the first time, BankBoston Chile and Scotiabank's leasing unit Factoring Scotiabank.
BancoEstado said US$43m of the Fogape guarantees would be destined for short-term loans and US$21m for long-term loans - and US$12m as contingency loans.
BancoEstado expects the Fogape funds this year will result in a total of 30,000 loans to small-sized enterprises. The bank plans to hold the next auction on September 30.
