Loan for development and piloting

Business Finland's loans are usually unsecured loans. The loan is advantageous for companies and the interest rate is three percentage points below the base interest rate, or at least one percent. To check the current base interest rate, please visit the Finnish Ministry of Finance website.

The loan amount and loan period

For SMEs' development and piloting projects, Business Finland grants a loan covering 50% or 70% of the project's total costs. For large and mid-cap companies, the loan covers a maximum of 50% or 70% of the costs, respectively.

The maximum loan period is 20 years, but the most common period is seven or ten years, of which three or five years – even more if necessary – can be amortization-free.

Repayment of the loan

Once Business Finland has issued its decision to grant a loan, a notification is sent to the Finnish State Treasury which then sends a promissory note for the debtor to sign. The State Treasury pays the advance after receiving the signed promissory note along with its appendices. For the full loan terms, please visit the State Treasury loan pages.

The State Treasury does not make payments to foreign accounts. The company must provide a Finnish bank account number for the payment of the loan installment.

The advance may be a total of 30% of the total loan amount granted to the project. The rest of the loan is paid according to the realised costs so that 20% of the granted loan is not paid until the closing report is submitted and the final settlement is made.

You can easily check your loan details on the State Treasury Online Service. On the Online Service, you can access your loan statement and balance and get in touch with the expert managing your case free of charge. For more information about the Online Service, please visit the State Treasury website. If you need more time to pay off overdue amortizations and interests, please contact the State Treasury. 

You can also contact the State Treasury Customer Service

by phone at: +358 (0)29 550 2530 Monday to Friday between 10:00 am and 3:00 pm or via email on: yritysluotot(at)valtiokonttori.fi

Business Finland helps with amendments to your loan

If your project is delayed, it fails or its results cannot be used in business operations, you can request Business Finland to amend the loan terms. The primary solution in these cases is to offer the debtor an extension to the repayment period, but in some cases the unpaid principal and interests can be converted completely or partially into a grant. Loans granted to large companies can only be converted into grants if a risk clause was defined for the project when the decision was issued.

Loans cannot be converted into grants if

• the company has not repaid a loan due for payment and has not made or adhered to a payment plan
• the company has not repaid overpayments from loan advances or other undue payments to the State Treasury
• the company has tax arrears, for which it has not made or adhered to a payment plan
• the company is unable to conduct continuous or profitable business
• it is too early to evaluate the financial failure of the project. Extending the loan period may be possible in situations like these
• the company has not decided to discontinue using the project results, meaning that it is still for example marketing the product developed during the project or that is has not decided to give away the intellectual property rights developed during the Business Finland-funded project.

Amending the loan terms

You can request an amendment to the loan terms by submitting a free-form application or change form (only in Finnish) with the reasons for extending the loan period. Read the instructions for submitting a loan amendment request. Send the application to Business Finland via secured email.