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Small & Medium Sized Enterprises Schemes

| June 20, 2021

Small & Medium Sized Enterprises Schemes

To facilitate the development of SMEs, strengthen their competitiveness and improve the overall business environment, the SAR Government has launched the supportive schemes dedicated to SMEs (SME Aid Scheme, SME Credit Guarantee Scheme, and SME Credit Guarantee Scheme for Special Projects). SMEs refer to enterprises that are operated by natural person proprietors or legal person proprietors who meet the following requirements:

  1. Tax registered at the Financial Service Bureau;
  2. Employs no more than 100 people;
  3. The personnel employed as mentioned in the previous point must be employees performing relevant work in Macao.

The natural person proprietor must be Macao residents; the legal person proprietor must have over 50% of their capital contributed by Macao residents.

SME Aid Scheme

The purpose of the scheme is to help SMEs improve their business environment and operation capability with interest subsidy.

Scope of Aid

Businesses can obtain interest-free financial assistance through the newly revised SME Aid Scheme to purchase equipment needed for operation; renovate, decorate and expand business premises; enter into commercial concession or franchising agreements; acquire right to exclusive use of technology and intellectual property rights; launch advertising and promotion campaigns; enhance operating capacity and competitiveness; use as working capital; or to address economic and financial difficulties owing to abnormal, unpredictable or force majeure events.

The maximum assistance amount is MOP 600,000 (six hundred thousand patacas), repayable over a maximum of 8 years.
The SAR Government will also provide opportunities for further assistance for a second time to eligible enterprises that have already repaid the assistance in full.

 

Application eligibility

To participate in the Aid Scheme, enterprises must meet the following requirements:

  1. Having been registered for tax purposes at the Financial Services Bureau (DSF) for at least 2 years;
  2. The natural person proprietor must be Macao residents; the legal person proprietor must have over 50% of their capital contributed by Macao residents;
  3. Employing no more than 100 persons in Macao (the number of employees must not exceed the maximum number of casual workers and employees stipulated in the Salaries Tax Regulations);
  4. Being under appropriate economic, financial or organisational status, and not a debtor of the Macao SAR;
  5. With regards to an application for a second assistance, full repayment of the assistance granted under the SME Aid Scheme and the Youth Entrepreneurs Aid Scheme, as well as appropriate operating conditions and good repayment records are required.

Note: Owners or major shareholders of the enterprise are required to provide a personal guarantee for the assistance.

 

Application procedures

Application must submit:

Completed Application Form for the SME Aid Scheme (application form can be downloaded from the DSEDT website or filled in online by performing an Online Pre-Application on the website);

  1. Copy of identification document of the individual owners/shareholders (please photocopy both the front and back of the identity card on the same side of an A4 paper);
  2. Documents proving the use of assistance:
  • If the application is made for the purpose of purchasing equipment needed for operations or conducting promotion and advertising campaigns, copies of relevant quotations are required.
  • If the application is made for the purpose of renovating, decorating and expanding business premises, copies of relevant quotations, photos of the business premises before the work, and copy of the lease contract/ property search report of the business premises are required.
  • If the application is made for the purpose of entering into commercial concession contracts and franchising contracts, relevant information about the contracts must be attached.

To facilitate analysis and assessment, the following documents may also be required depending on individual circumstances:

  1. Copy of identification document of the guarantors (please photocopy both the front and back of the identity card on the same side of an A4 paper);
  2. Copies of Income Declarations (i.e. the declaration form filed to the DSF annually for reporting turnover and profit/loss) for the previous 2 to 3 years;
  3. For enterprises engaging in industries that require administrative licences, photocopy of the licences must be provided (e.g. a restaurant operator shall provide the relevant licences issued by the Civil and Municipal Affairs Bureau (IAM)/Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO)).
  4. Bank transaction records for the last 6 months of the primary bank account opened under the name of the enterprise.
  5. Engineering companies may submit, if any, recent work contracts and photos of work.

(Competent department: DSEDT)

 

SME Credit Guarantee Scheme

The Scheme aims to assist SMEs to obtain bank financing, which cannot be used for repaying existing debts, by providing credit guarantees without particular restrictions on the form of loan.

 

Scope of Credit Guarantee

The SME Credit Guarantee Scheme provides each beneficiary enterprise a credit guarantee up to 70% of the amount of the bank loan it had applied for with a maximum guarantee amount of MOP 4.9 million, excluding interest and other expenses related to repayment of the loan. The repayment period of the loan is limited to a maximum of 5 years, counting from the drawdown date.

 

Application eligibility

To participate in the Credit Guarantee Scheme, enterprises must meet the following requirements:

  1. Having been registered at the Financial Services Bureau (DSF) for tax purposes and operated in the Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) for at least 1 year;
  2. The natural person proprietor must be Macao permanent residents; the legal person proprietor must have over 50% of their capital contributed by residents of the Macao SAR;
  3. Employing no more than 100 persons in Macao (the number of employees must not exceed the maximum number of casual workers and employees stipulated in the Salaries Tax Regulations);
  4. Being under appropriate economic, financial or organisational status, and not a debtor of the Macao SAR.

Note: The beneficiary enterprise is required to issue a promissory note and a counter-guarantee with an amount equivalent to that of the bank loan, on which the credit guarantee is provided, to the Industrial and Commercial Development Fund (FDIC).

Application methods

Interested SMEs may contact the banks participating in this Scheme, which will assist with their applications by preparing all the application documents and submitting them to the application office on their behalf. When applying for this Scheme on behalf of a SME, the bank shall submit:

  1. Completed Application Form for the SME Credit Guarantee Scheme (available for download from the website);
  2. Copy of identification document of the individual owners or shareholders (please photocopy both the front and back of the identity card on the same side of an A4 paper);
  3. Other documents or materials that may serve as a reference for the Advisory Committee.

 

SME Credit Guarantee Scheme for Special Projects

The SME Credit Guarantee Scheme for Specific Projects provides SMEs with guarantee of up to 100% of the bank loans needed for financing specific projects, supports them to launch specific projects on enterprise innovation and transformation, brand advertising and promotion, improvement of product quality, as well as launching new business activities.

Besides, the Scheme also aims to assist SMEs directly affected by abnormal, unpredictable or force majeure events, particularly natural disasters or epidemic outbreaks, to obtain bank financing to resolve short-term liquidity difficulties, such as paying the employees’ salaries and rental of business premises. The Scheme aims to assist SMEs to obtain bank financing, which cannot be used for repaying existing debts, by providing credit guarantees without particular restrictions on the form of borrowing.

Scope

The maximum amount of loan eligible for guarantee is MOP 1 million. The amount of guarantee provided does not include interest and other expenses related to the repayment of loan. The repayment period of the loan is limited to a maximum of 5 years, counting from the drawdown date.

Application eligibility

  1. Having been registered at the Financial Services Bureau (DSF) for tax purposes and operated in the Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) for at least 3 years;
  2. The natural person proprietor must be Macao permanent residents; the legal person proprietor must have over 50% of their capital contributed by residents of the Macao SAR;
  3. Employing no more than 100 persons in Macao (the number of employees must not exceed the maximum number of casual workers and employees stipulated in the Salaries Tax Regulations);
  4. Being under appropriate economic, financial or organisational status, and not a debtor of the Macao SAR.

Note: Owners or shareholders of the beneficiary enterprise are required to provide a counter-guarantee on the credit guarantee obtained.

Application methods

Interested SMEs may contact the banks participating in this Scheme, which will assist with their applications by preparing all the application documents and submitting them to the application office on their behalf. When applying for this Scheme on behalf of a SME, the bank shall submit:

  1. Completed Application Form for the SME Credit Guarantee Scheme for Specific Projects (available for download from the website);
  2. Description and feasibility report of the specific project;
  3. Copy of identification document of the individual owners or shareholders (please photocopy both the front and back of the identity card on the same side of an A4 paper);
  4. Other documents or materials that may serve as a reference for the Advisory Committee.

(Competent department: DSEDT)

 

Notes on the three Small & Medium Sized Enterprises schemes:

  1. Applicants of the SME Aid Scheme may submit an application by means of online filing in order to save waiting time when submitting in person. For online filing, applicants must first register as a user on the DSEDT website (those who have already registered to use DSEDT’s other e-services may log in directly). After submitting the online filing request, the applicants must print and sign the application form, and submit the form with the other required documents;
  2. The respective Advisory Committees of the SME Aid Scheme, SME Credit Guarantee Scheme and SME Credit Guarantee Scheme for Special Projects may require the applicants to submit reports, documents or other materials on the enterprises’ economic profile and repayment capacity according to actual circumstances;
  3. If the application process is suspended for over three months due to reasons attributable to the applicant, the application will be deemed to have been withdrawn;

“SME Credit Guarantee Scheme” and “SME Credit Guarantee Scheme for Special Projects”

Participating Banks (listed in no particular order)

  • Bank of China Limited Macau Branch
  • Tai Fung Bank Limited
  • OCBC Wing Hang Bank Limited
  • Delta Asia Bank Limited
  • China Construction Bank (Macau) Corporation Limited
  • Luso International Banking Limited
  • Banco Comercial de Macau, S.A.
  • Banco Nacional Ultramarino, S.A.
  • The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited
  • Chong Hing Bank Limited
  • Hang Seng Bank Limited – Macau Branch
  • Bank of Communications Co. Ltd. Macau Branch
  • China CITIC Bank International Limited Macau Branch
  • Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (Macau) Limited
  • The Bank of East Asia, Limited, Macau Branch
  • China Guangfa Bank Co. Ltd., Macau Branch
  • CMB Wing Lung Bank, Limited – Macau Branch
  • Ant Bank (Macao) Limited