Press Release – Financial Services Federation The Financial Services Federation is pleased that New Zealands small and medium businesses will be better off with the extension of the Business Finance Guarantee Scheme (BFGS) to non-bank lenders. The Government-backed loan scheme is designed … The Financial Services Federation is pleased that New Zealand’s small and medium businesses will be better off with the extension of the Business Finance Guarantee Scheme (BFGS) to non-bank lenders. The Government-backed loan scheme is designed to help small and medium enterprises (SMEs) access credit for cashflow, capital assets, and in their COVID-19 recovery efforts. Despite the high calibre of specialist, SME-lending finance companies in New Zealand, until now, the scheme has only been available to the banks.