This snapshot of the changes in entrepreneurs’ needs in terms of financing shows that requests accelerated at the start of the lockdown, then remained at a high level from April 2020.
During the lockdown, entrepreneurs also placed increased requests with the Banque de France in order to rapidly obtain a rating for their company and benefit from an SGL, depending on the quality of their rating (10.8%). In the absence of a rating between 3++ and 5+, the applications were studied on a case-by-case basis by financial institutions. Overall, between 16 March and 31 May, the refusal rate for SGLs was very low, at around 2.4%.
The strong initial interest shown in the measures taken by the government and commercial banks gradually decreased as company managers benefited from this support; a fall in requests was then recorded for the rescheduling of bank loans (from 27.8% to 10.4%), cash solutions (from 18.3% to 9.3%), the rescheduling of tax and social security debts (from 16.8% to 3%) and short-time work (from 11.2% to 2.8%).
Finally, in April and May, requests for management assistance through the Banque de France's OPALE financial assessment tool dropped slightly, falling to 7.8%. The other were relatively stable over time.
... and affected business sectors and regions very differently
Compared to other sectors, the most exposed were trade (30%), business and household services (17%), accommodation and food services (15%), and construction (14%).
The number of requests made also varied greatly by region. Ile-de-France and Hauts-de-France jointly recorded 36% of requests for support provided by VSE-SME correspondents in metropolitan France during the lockdown, while the three regions Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, Occitanie and Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes accounted for 30% of requests.