There is no rule of thumb that survives contact with a real credit assessment. The scheme sets ceilings — S$500,000 per borrower on the SME Working Capital Loan, S$5,000,000 across the borrower group — but what you can actually raise depends on your financial performance, existing liabilities, credit profile, industry, business structure and the lender’s own assessment.
What the caps allow
- SME Working Capital Loan: up to S$500,000 per borrower
- Borrower group limit: S$5,000,000 across the group
- Beyond the WCL cap: a Business Term Loan can be structured alongside the WCL so the total raised can exceed what the WCL alone allows
A cap is a ceiling, not an entitlement. Very few businesses are offered the maximum simply because it exists.
What a lender is actually weighing
- Revenue, and whether it is stable or lumpy
- Margins, and whether the business can service instalments out of them
- Existing liabilities and how much room is left
- Bank account conduct — balances, bounced items, how the account is actually run
- Credit profile of the company and of the guaranteeing directors
- Industry and the lender’s appetite for it
Why “X% of annual revenue” is misleading
You will see percentage-of-revenue rules of thumb quoted online. Treat them carefully. Quantum depends on the factors above and on the lender, and outcomes vary widely between businesses that look superficially similar. A figure from someone else’s case is not a forecast for yours, and we will not present one as though it were.
The useful version of this question
Not “how much can a business like mine borrow”, but “given these financials, these liabilities and this ownership structure, is there a case, and what shape is it”. That is answerable — after an assessment. It is not answerable from a blog post, including this one.
Approval and final quantum remain the decision of the participating financial institution in every case.
Talk to us about your case
Every business is different, and the only honest way to answer “can we get this funded” is to look at your numbers. Send us your company name, roughly how much you need and what it is for, and we will tell you whether there is a case worth building. Speak to us, or read how it works.
Cornerstone Capital Services Pte. Ltd. (UEN 202622107K) is a business financing consultancy and is not a bank or a licensed moneylender. Loan approval, final quantum, tenure and interest rates are determined solely by the participating financial institutions and are subject to their credit assessment. Scheme figures shown are published by Enterprise Singapore and may change.
