It was announced on Monday that the European Investment Bank (EIB) and banking and financial services group Société Générale have rolled out an EUR300mn credit line designed to support projects by French small and medium-sized enterprises.

The initiative is designed to allow French SMEs (with fewer than 250 employees) hoping to develop their business to contract loans with terms of at least two years throughout the Société Générale network on the EIB’s preferential terms.

According to figures released by the two bodies, a similar previous project launched in January 2009 has already helped to finance nearly 2,800 projects promoted by 1,950 French SMEs.

This new agreement comes under the EUR30bn financing support plan to assist European SMEs that was launched by the Bank in September 2008, to cover the period 2008-2011.

With regard to support measures put in place for SMEs, the European Investment Bank recently revealed that last year alone, it lent EUR12.7bn (up 55% from 2008's lending figures) to banks in the form of credit lines for the financing of small businesses.

Despite such initiatives, lending to SMEs has tightened in recent years, often requiring small businesses to access more creative financing avenues, including loans from family members and friends, credit cards, and investments from 'angel investors' or venture capitalists.

For example, in the United Kingdom, a survey undertaken by the Entrepreneurs Organization and Investec Specialist Private Bank in March 2010 revealed that of the business people polled, three quarters were planning to seek new or increased funding over the course of the year, with a significant number (around 60%) expecting this to be difficult to obtain.

Although bank loans and overdrafts featured also prominently in the funding plans of those questioned, nearly a quarter (24%) said that they were planning to fund a venture using their credit card, around 28% revealed that they would seek private equity involvement, and 11% reportedly planned to borrow from family and friends to fund their business.