The European Investment Bank (EIB) and Crédit Coopératif today signed a EUR 150m credit line to support investment by SME customers of Crédit Coopératif.

This credit line comes under the EIB’s current exceptional support plan for European SMEs in response to the financial and economic crisis. This plan, endorsed at the September 2008 meeting of the EU Council of Ministers, provides for the EIB to grant EUR 30bn in loans for SMEs via commercial banks by 2011, of which at least half in 2008-2009. The EIB is poised to achieve these objectives under this plan as in 2008 it granted EUR 8.1bn in credit lines for SMEs, of which EUR 1.5bn in France, and aims to cover the whole of the European Union in 2009.

Independent enterprises with fewer than 250 employees will therefore be able to obtain loans from Crédit Coopératif for projects costing less than EUR 25m on the EIB’s favourable terms, i.e. with a 0.20% discount on the interest rate applicable.

The financing agreements were signed in Paris by Jean-Claude Detilleux, Chairman of Crédit Coopératif, and Philippe de Fontaine Vive, EIB Vice-President with responsibility for SME support in Europe.

Boasting a long-standing partnership (first agreement in 1982) with the EIB, Crédit Coopératif is thus consolidating its position as a bank renowned Europe-wide for the calibre of its financing.

About Crédit Coopératif:

Crédit Coopératif specialises in multiple banking segments and is active in all regions of France via its network of 69 branches. It was founded at the end of the 19th century by cooperative societies in order to access credit. As a cooperative bank, its capital is owned by its customers and legal entity members. It has a wealth of experience in providing assistance to enterprises and their consortia, cooperative societies, SMEs, mutual societies, associations and public interest bodies. In staffing terms, it benefits from the resources of the Banque Populaire group of which it is one of the parent companies (www.credit-cooperatif.coop)

About the EIB:

The EIB is the European Union’s financing bank. Its mission is to grant mostly long-term loans in support of viable private or public investment projects that meet the EU’s objectives of integration, cohesion and development, broken down into six priority policies: economic and social cohesion; environmental protection; research and innovation; support for SMEs; trans-European transport networks and the promotion of secure, competitive and sustainable energy. In 2008, the Bank provided EUR 57bn of loans in the European Union.