40 million euros allocated to supporting health care and charities thanks to a dedicated guarantee fund.
Rome, 18 March 2020. Faced with the Coronavirus emergency, foundations of banking origin immediately mobilised locally, providing an initial response to the various local needs of the health authorities, to guarantee medical assistance to infected people, and of economic and cultural organisations tested by the measures needed to contain the infection.
Furthermore, as it has done in other emergency situations the country has faced in recent years (the earthquakes in L’Aquila, Emilia Romagna, Central Italy, the flooding in Sardinia, the high water in Venice), ACRI has decided to launch a systematic series of interventions by the foundations of banking origin, specifically for the Coronavirus pandemic, through the Fondo Nazionale Iniziative Comuni. As in the past, the action is not only intended to deal with the immediate situation but also with the post-emergency situation and the beneficiaries of the intervention with whom the Foundations have close and established partnership and collaboration relationships.
The Executive Committee of ACRI, meeting by video conference today, has decided to activate a revolving guarantee fund to support the financial requirements of charitable organisations. With an initial endowment of 5 million euros, thanks to a financial leverage effect, the Fund will allow the disbursement of several tens of millions of euros in loans (repayable within a maximum of 18 months), thus bringing liquidity to thousands of organisations. In order to increase the capacity of the Guarantee Fund, further voluntary contributions from individual Foundations may then be added. Furthermore, given the fragility of the beneficiaries, the Guarantee Fund will be flanked by a hedging fund of 500 thousand euros, which will allow the financial charges of the first cycle of disbursement of the ceiling to be reduced until they are paid off. The loans will be disbursed by the banking system. ACRI will coordinate the operation based on discussions with charity representatives, signing agreements with credit institutions, calling on the contributions set aside by the Foundations, monitoring the initiative and ensuring regular reporting.