EUROPEAN COMMISSION
DIRECTORATE-GENERAL FOR COMPETITION
Markets and cases III: Financial services
State aid - Financial Institutions
Brussels, 7 February 2025
COMP.D.3/WD/MP/RFL/EM*
COMP(2025)2418609
Permanent Representation of
Estonia to the EU
Rue Guimard/Guimardstraat 11/13
1040 Bruxelles/Brussel
[email protected]
Subject: Case SA.117532 Non-aid Loan Guarantee for Enterprises
Dear Madam/Sir,
By letter dated 14 January 2025, your authorities notified to the Commission the above-
mentioned measure. After an initial examination, the Commission has found the
notification to be incomplete in that the information below is missing. Therefore, we kindly
request that you provide us the following:
1. Provide more in-depth details regarding the rating assignment process and clarify
how these ratings are mapped to Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s ratings.
2. Ensure and confirm that the adequacy of the premium levels is reviewed at least
annually to facilitate a proper and ongoing evaluation of the scheme’s self-
financing aspect.
3. Verify and confirm the proposed Loss Given Default (LGD) and Probability of
Default (PD) figures, derived from the Enterprise Estonia portfolio, and remain
conservative when considering both subsamples, in order to ensure adequacy for
both SMEs and large companies.
4. Establish a safeguard to ensure that the guarantee is aligned with market terms and
prices that financial institutions normally charge. We invite you to review the
recent Commission decisions on guarantee methodologies in cases SA.100837,
SA.110012, SA.61340, or SA.64359 as examples.
5. Ensure the alignment of the proposed capital remuneration with that what is being
charged to financial institutions, thereby avoiding any potential market distortion
and crowding out effects.
Commission européenne/Europese Commissie, 1049 Bruxelles/Brussel, BELGIQUE/BELGIË – Tel. +32 22991111
Email:
[email protected]
In addition, we would like to discuss with you the applicability of the proposed scheme to
large Estonian companies and some specificities in the assessment of its compatibility
resulting therefrom.
Finally, we would appreciate, if you could consider providing a language waiver to
expedite the decision-making process.
To facilitate a thorough discussion of these points, we invite you to a meeting where we
can review these issues before you submit a formal written response. Please let us know
when you would be available for a videoconference with the case team.
Without this information, the Commission is unable to define its position on the proposed
measure. Consequently, the period of two months within which it is required to do so will
only start after the additional information is received. This should reach the Commission
within 20 working days from the date of this letter.
In your reply you are kindly requested to inform the Commission services whether any of
the information is confidential 1. Otherwise, the Commission services will consider that
none of the information provided in your reply contains professional or business secrets.
Yours sincerely,
Electronically signed
Wouter DUTILLIEUX
Deputy Head of Unit
Contacts:
PETRIK, Matus (
[email protected])
FERRERAS LABRA, Rodrigo (
[email protected])
1
Commission communication on Professional secrecy 4582 of 1 December 2003 – Official Journal C
297, 9 December 2003 p. 6-9
2
Paul Lukk
Ettevõtluse ja Innovatsiooni Sihtasutus Meie 20.02.2025 nr 12.1-3/165-4
[email protected]
Küsimused riigiabi teatise
SA.117532 "Non-aid Loan
Guarantee for Enterprises" kohta
Austatud härra Lukk
Edastame Euroopa Komisjoni küsimused riigiabi teatise SA.117532 „Non-aid Loan
Guarantee for Enterprises“ kohta.
Vastused palume esitada Rahandusministeeriumile komisjoni kirjas ettenähtud tähtajaks.
Lugupidamisega
(allkirjastatud digitaalselt)
Kaur Kajak
halduspoliitika asekantsler
Lisa(d):
EK küsimused teatise kohta
Ljudmilla Sokolnikova 611 3360
[email protected]
Suur-Ameerika 1 / 10122 Tallinn / 611 3558 /
[email protected] / www.rahandusministeerium.ee
registrikood 70000272