The purpose is to guarantee a transparent relationship between the business and SIMEST, and ensure adequate traceability of the expenses incurred to develop the programme.

The Current Account must be used for all incoming and outgoing transactions concerning the loan granted. Both advance and final loan payments (as applicable) will be made only to this current account. Similarly, the expenses the business incurs must be ordered from this account, apart from specific cases. To ensure transactions are clearly identified, the number and/or type of loan and the beneficiary country must be indicated in the description of each payment, as well as the expenditure item the payment refers to (e.g. 1234/FM or FM/Kenya – expense for Trade Fair participation [state the name of the trade fair]). The purpose is to make a distinction between different loan flows that may or could be granted by SIMEST to the applicant company.

The business can notify an unused current account held in the name of the applicant company, provided it has not been used for over six months from the date of the loan application submitted to SIMEST. The account must be an ordinary current account in euro, with the possibility of a company credit card being used for payments, which may be necessary to facilitate incurring the ordinary expenses envisaged under the specific programme.

In the payment description you should indicate the type of loan and beneficiary country, and the expenditure item the payment refers to (e.g. FM/Kenya – expenses for Trade Fair participation [state the name of the trade fair]). After the loan has been approved, transactions must always indicate the reference number, to ensure correct identification*.

When applying for a loan and/or before it is disbursed, the business can send the IBAN of its current account, along with a copy of the contract, from the Portal sacesimest.it. For businesses applying for more than one loan, a single current account for all the requested loans may be indicated. During reporting, the business will have to attach, via the Portal sacesimest.it, a complete copy of account transactions to its final data (account statement). For the Entry on foreign markets programme, SIMEST also may request, at its discretion, the list of bank transactions of programme expenses incurred by the current account of the local investee.

After notifying the IBAN of the current account, and receiving the first part of the loan (balance payment for loans for the Capitalisation of export firms and the trade fair system), it will not be possible to change it, unless the IBAN is changed for reasons not attributable to the business. In this case, the request to change the IBAN must be notified in time to SIMEST sending a certified email to simest@legalmail.it, forwarding the documentation showing the change in the IBAN.

In order for expenses to be eligible, they must be incurred using the current account. If a business has to incur expenses before opening this current account, these expenses cannot be recognised during reporting.

The business must provide the necessary funds, so that the expenses which can be funded under the loan are always incurred using the current account. The business will have to transfer funds to cover its expenditure requirements.

No, the current account must be exclusively for the loan(s) granted by SIMEST.

Yes. Expenses incurred using a credit card linked to the current account may be eligible, if envisaged by the programme, provided the credit card statement with details of loan expenses is submitted during reporting, and from the Portal. On this regard, as it is impossible to describe the expenses incurred using a credit card, the reported amount must simply be the same as the amount indicated in the statement of the credit card used for the payment.

Yes, only expenses that cannot be directly incurred using the current account (e.g. for board and lodging if payment of the latter is not possible by bank transfer) may be eligible, if provided for by the programme, provided the credit card statement with details of the loan expenses is submitted during reporting, and from the Portal. On this regard, as it is impossible to describe the expenses incurred using a credit card, the invoiced amount must simply be the same as the amount indicated in the statement of the credit card used for the payment.

The business must incur expenses for external programme staff from the loan current account according to the procedures indicated*.

The travel and accommodation expenses of programme staff must be sustained using the current account or, alternatively, a company credit card (the amount of these expenses must be transferred from the loan current account to the company current account no later than the final reporting date, and with an adequate description of the subsidised expenditure*), on condition that a statement of the company credit card indicating the expenses incurred is provided.