Five of the country’s largest credit unions have been selected to lend to businesses as part of the new Brexit Impact Loan Scheme for Irish firms to help them adapt to Britain’s departure from the EU.

The five are members of Metamo, the joint venture between Fexco and 16 credit unions aimed at providing the credit unions with an enhanced range of services and helping with support in key areas such as lending, risk management and technology delivery.

Access Credit Union, Cara Credit Union, St Canice’s Credit Union, St Francis Credit Union and Savvi Credit Union will provide funds to micro businesses, small businesses and primary producers that have been affected by the impact of Brexit.

The Metamo members, with a combined membership of 208,000, will be the only community-based lenders within the scheme, which is administered by the Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland (SBCI).

Chairman Joe O’Toole commented: “Metamo’s participation in this new loan scheme is great news for the five credit unions selected and for the communities that they serve. This brings to 10 the number of Metamo members involved in SBCI schemes and underscores the huge progress that is being made by the group.”

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Metamo chief executive Alan Kelly (pictured) added: “Metamo’s model is all about the power of the collective being used to bring greater opportunities for our credit unions and for their members. The real winners from today’s announcement are the small businesses that our credit unions will help through this new scheme in locations across Ireland.”

The five credit unions will be able to offer loans to firms and producers that rely on the UK for at least 15% of their imports or exports. The minimum loan value is €25,000, and the loans will have a term of between one year and six years.

The Metamo Group of 16 unions have a combined lending base of more than €1 billion. Metamo’s  Centre of Excellence wis focused on developing new products and services.