Intermediated lending means a local bank, or another financial intermediary, takes out a loan from the EIB and then lends this money to small firms in its area. You can find a list of banks we have done such deals with here.
The video above, by the way, is part of a massive open online course, known as MOOC, on the Iversity online learning website. The MOOC is put together by the European Committee of the Regions. The course is called “How to make the most of EU resources for regions and cities". More than 12 000 people registered for the six-week course, but now you can work through the course material at your own pace. In fact, having already digested what intermediated lending is about, you are well on your way!
The course is free and designed for anyone interested in EU and regional and local affairs. It should be accessible on all devices. It provides relevant information on present and future EU policies and programmes, as well as practical tools and examples of funding available at regional and local levels.
Intermediated lending to SMEs and midcaps remains the largest area of the EIB’s business, reaching close to 300 000 companies last year. These companies provide employment to about 4 million people, so they may be small, but their impact is large. And their struggle is real: the smaller firms report the most difficulties getting financing. The cartoon, “The Brood”, is here not to just comfort the struggling start-up entrepreneurs, but also to shine a light on some of the issues they routinely deal with. Check out the strips here.
