Responsive to SMEs’ needs

BIL helps small- and medium-sized businesses in various sectors grow. Chantal Conter, Senior Corporate Advisor at BIL, explains how.

What does your job entail? Our job is made up of various tasks. First of all, we offer our customers a wide range of services to help them optimise their day-to-day operations. For example, our online banking platform, debit cards, cash flow management and European direct debits.

We also help our clients develop their medium- and long-term business goals. We provide advice when it comes to financing a project, such as buying or building a new production site, purchasing new machinery or providing cash flow support. We’re always listening to our customers to help them find the most suitable financing solution, be it an investment loan, a leasing solution or a bank guarantee, amongst others.

Depending on the project, the Bank’s different services are on hand to help, from BIL’s branch network, BIL Lease, our colleagues at private banking or even legal and admin services. All of BIL’s expert teams are working hard to meet customers’ needs.

How do you respond to this type of business’s specific needs? Small- and medium-sized businesses are often family businesses. They enlist our experience to help them assess their financial needs and make investment decisions.

You need an excellent understanding of their business and how it operates. We prefer to meet and discuss with the business owners, to guide them towards the product or banking service most suitable for their project. It goes without saying, direct contact still remains limited due to the health crisis.

These businesses were hit hard by the health crisis. How did you help them? Our initial reaction was to contact our clients to take stock of the situation and see how the crisis had impacted them. Situations varied between businesses, from those who were unaffected and could continue commercial activity to those who had to stop fully or partially, such was the case for the hospitality industry.

We did everything in our power to help them through this difficult period. Under the coordination of the ABBL, we decided to provide financial support, in the form of a moratorium on loans granted to Luxembourg companies experiencing cash flow problems related to the crisis.

Furthermore, we continued our role in financing the economy by working with the Luxembourg Government to launch a state-guaranteed loans system, as well as measures implemented by Société Nationale de Crédit et d’Investissement, the Mutualité des PME mutual guarantee scheme, the Mutualité de Cautionnement and the Office du Ducroire (the Luxembourg export credit agency).

“It’s incredibly rewarding helping SMEs with their daily operations and developing their future business goals.”