The European Investment Bank (EIB) has granted a EUR 500 million loan to Banco Santander and a EUR 100 million loan Santander Consumer Finance (SCF) for financing the investment projects of SMEs and midcaps with the aim of fostering growth and job creation. The EIB loan to SCF will specifically be used to finance the commercial vehicle fleets of small and medium-sized businesses. Banco Santander and SCF will make an additional contribution of EUR 600 million, so that the total amount made available for financing SMEs will be EUR 1.2 billion.

The EIB funds will provide small and medium-sized businesses with long-term finance for their investments and credit lines for funding their working capital requirements of more than two years at favourable interest rates. The individual loans will finance investment projects costing up to EUR 25 million in the case of SMEs and up to EUR 50 million in the case of midcaps in Spain.

Banco Santander will be able to use part of the funds to finance new loans to SMEs eligible to obtain a guarantee under the SME initiative, the loan guarantee programme promoted by the EIB Group together with the European Commission and the national and regional authorities managing the structural funds.

These operations will strengthen relations between the two institutions and facilitate access to finance for SMEs, enabling them to carry out their investments.