Assessment of Finnvera VN/167/2023

Invitation to tender Finnvera plc is a 100% state-owned specialised financing company (https://www.finnvera.fi/eng/finnvera). It complements the financial markets and promotes the development of regions, businesses and exports. Finnvera’s operations are guided by its special legislation and the Finnish government’s policy objectives, which include directing financing to promote the growth and internationalisation of companies, addressing market gaps in business financing and developing its operations so that new business financing challenges can be met efficiently and quickly. Finnvera must also take into account the state aid rules set by the EU and other international rules. In the long term the company’s operations are required to be self-sufficient. The company’s task is to correct deficiencies in the provision of financial services, which is why risk-sharing with other financiers is the main rule. The loans and guarantees granted by Finnvera improve and diversify access to financing, especially for SMEs. The State participates in compensating for the credit and guarantee losses of domestic financing intended for SMEs, which is why the company may take greater risks in its lending activities than banks. Finnvera and its subsidiary Finnish Export Credit ltd grant export financing. Export credit guarantees, loans and interest equalisation are mainly granted in accordance with the terms of the OECD’s Arrangement on Officially Supported Export Credits. Finnvera is Finland’s official export credit Agency (ECA). The Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment is responsible for the company’s industrial policy and ownership steering. The purpose of the assignment is to assess the quality and impact of Finnvera’s operations and to make recommendations on the basis of the conclusions for the development of the company’s strategic goals and operations. In addition, the purpose of the assignment is to bring an insight into the green transition, as Finland has been a frontrunner in green transition solutions and public funding providers have a role to play in financing transition investments. The Ministry considers it important that special public financing institutions and instruments adopt a consistent approach to channelling funding to the green transition. The focus of the assignment is on domestic SME financing with respect to the quality and appropriateness of the services provided, and export financing business is only assessed as part of the company’s overall operations with respect to the areas listed below. Previous assessments of Finnvera’s operations can be found on Finnvera’s website (previous reports). (see the link in the Appendix 1 Background and descrpition of the procurement) See the Appendix 1 Background and description of the procurement

See the Appendix 1 Background and description of the procurement The assessment must examine the following issues: 1. Finnvera’s operations • Is Finnvera’s operations correctly targeted and scaled, taking into account market deficiencies related to the development of Finnish business financing and the future outlook? (domestic financing) • How does Finnvera’s SME financing activities respond to market failures through its activities? Is the current model (incl. focus, instruments, quality/availability of services and utilisation of EU funding) a workable solution? Is Finnvera’s operations causing distortions in the business and/or corporate sector or does it have an undesirable impact on the financial markets? The assessment should take into account how the government’s public SME financing activities function in reference countries (to be agreed separately) and what the key differences are in relation to the Finnish model, including how the profitability targets for public SME financing have been set in the reference countries. (domestic financing) • How well do Finnvera’s services create positive impact and how should the impact assessment methods used by Finnvera be developed? (domestic and export financing) • Assessment of Finnvera’s activities in the context of the green transition. How/with what measures would Finnvera best promote Finland’s green transition (incl. measures undertaken and planned) and, based on this assessment, development proposals for Finnvera’s green transition activities? (domestic and export financing) 2. Finnvera as part of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment group and steering of Finnvera • How well does Finnvera implement the policy objectives of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment and how could the company’s operations be developed in this respect? • How is the steering of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment viewed and what kind of development needs are observed in this respect? As a result of the evaluation, the commissioned party will prepare, either in Finnish or in English, a report containing, in addition to the assessments mentioned above, conclusions and recommendations on reform needs of Finnvera’s operations, tasks and strategic goals. The evaluation is qualitative in nature, but quantitative evaluation methods should also be used to support it. The research plan with the methods of assessment and acquisition of information must be presented in sufficient detail in the tender. The implementation schedule of the project is that the contract period will be from 17.4.2023.-30.11.2023 (the funds for the assignment will only be available this year). The initial results should be available to the client by 8-9/2023, and the final report should be completed by 11/2023. The supplier will present the progress of the work to the Ministry on dates to be decided later. A steering group will be appointed by the Ministry to monitor the progress of the assessment work. The supplier must record the matters agreed and decided in the project’s follow-up meetings.

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