100 days of the KfW Instant Loan: targeted KfW coronavirus aid for small and medium-sized enterprises

In the first 100 days, KfW received more than 14,000 applications for the KfW Instant Loan with a total volume of around EUR 4.6 billion. After the KfW Special Programme was launched at lightning speed on 23 March 2020, the KfW Instant Loan was introduced just a few weeks later, on 14 April 2020, to help ease the economic consequences of the coronavirus crisis.

KfW’s Instant Loan is designed to provide fast, unbureaucratic and targeted loan assistance to enterprises with more than ten employees: “The Instant Loan reaches the enterprises that are particularly affected, and only one in five of the loan applications we receive falls into this category. This shows the targeted support for companies in the broad SME sector that benefit from the support programme. In addition, the KfW Instant Loan has become so well established because it is based on many years of good cooperation between KfW and the on-lending banks,” says Detlev Kalischer, head of the SME and Private Clients division at KfW.

Unlike the KfW Special Programme 2020, which was developed on the basis of existing KfW products, the Instant Loan is a completely new programme. It was conceived and implemented within a very short period of time in order to provide fast liquidity support to small and medium-sized companies particularly during the coronavirus crisis.

As is the case with all KfW coronavirus loans, applications for the KfW Instant Loan are submitted to banks and savings banks. To make it easier for banks to commit to the loans, KfW assumes 100 per cent of the credit risk and has received a guarantee from the German Federal Government for this purpose. Depending on their size, companies can claim up to EUR 500,000 (10 to 50 employees) or EUR 800,000 (more than 50 employees). The fact that a risk assessment by the regular bank and KfW, as well as loan collateral are not required, makes it possible for the loans to be granted quickly and without a lot of red tape.