After initial cooperation in 2005, the European Investment Bank (EIB) and Aktia Savings Bank Plc (Aktia), headquartered in Helsinki, are joining forces to further support small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and their investments in Finland. To this end, the EIB is making a EUR 50 million line of credit available, and Aktia will act as an intermediary between the EIB and the final customers, appraising each project according to EIB’s criteria ans passing on the advantageous borrowing terms in its individual loans to a large number of SMEs, operating in such sectors as the environmental protection, industry, trade and services, as well as energy.
Aktia has a broad experience with the Finnish SME sector and the funds under this new line of credit will be primarily targeted towards small SMEs (many with less than 50 employees) in productive sectors located throughout Finland. EIB involvement will generate positive effects for the SMEs in terms of both the availability of longer-term maturities and a reduction in the final interest rates to the benefiting SMEs.
Lines of credit combine the advantages of the EIB's first-rate access to world capital markets, where it raises most of the funds for its lending activity, with the local network and know-how of domestic partner banks. EIB Vice-President, Eva SREJBER commented at the signature ceremony: “ SMEs is a local business: SMEs need direct access to financial partners, like Aktia, with high-quality local and sector information who are able to monitor changing demands closely and carry out appraisals of proposed projects”.
There are some 23 million SMEs in the European Union (EU), accounting for over 99% of all enterprises and contributing up to 80% of employment in some industrial sectors, such as textiles, construction or furniture. The EIB Group’s SME activity benefited more than 162 000 SMEs in 2007, with a specific focus on innovative SMEs with high growth potential, small renewable energy schemes promoted by SMEs, and micro-enterprises. EIB support was provided through lines of credit totalling some EUR 5 billion, granted to its intermediaries throughout the European Union.
Note for the editor:
The European Investment Bank Group, the banking group promoting European objectives and financing European projects, provides capital investment aimed at modernising the economies of the Member States and the countries close to the Union.
In 2007, the European Investment Bank lent a total of EUR 47.8 billion for projects promoting the European Union’s policy objectives. Finance for the then EU-27 Member States represented 87% of its activities and amounted to EUR 41.4 billion. To fund its activities, the EIB raised an aggregate amount of EUR 55 billion on the international capital markets through 236 bond issues in 23 currencies. Owned by the Member States, the EIB (with its AAA rating) is the world’s largest supranational issuer.
Since 2003 in Finland, the EIB has provided a total of EUR 675 million, through its regular financial partners, in support of SMEs throughout the country (in cooperation with Finnvera, Pohjola Bank and Aktia Savings Bank) as well as in support of small and medium-sized infrastructure projects carried out by smaller municipalities in sectors such as energy, infrastructure, urban renewal, the environment, health and education (in cooperation with Pohjola Bank) throughout the country (in cooperation with Finnvera, OKO Bank and Aktia Savings Bank) and small and medium-sized infrastructure projects carried out by smaller municipalities in sectors such as energy, infrastructure, urban renewal, the environment, health and education (in cooperation with OKO Bank).
In 2007, the EIB opened a regional Office in Helsinki, located at the headquarters of the Nordic Investment Bank (NIB), with a view to enhancing the Bank’s presence in the Baltic Sea region.