BANKIA SA - The chairman of Bankia, José Ignacio Goirigolzarri, signed the agreement today with the vice-president of the European Investment Bank (EIB), Román Escolano
- Román Escolano said, "This new loan represents one more step for the EIB in its unwavering commitment to support SMEs, the real backbone of our economy and essential for progressing towards a recovery"
- José Ignacio Goirigolzarri said, "This agreement reaffirms Bankia's commitment to the business sector for which financing is indispensable and the best type of support it can receive"
Bankia will offer a total of €400 million in financing to the self-employed, SMEs and medium sized companies (up to 300 employees) under favourable conditions in terms of interest rates and terms, which may be used to invest in assets or for working capital.
Companies will be able to apply for these favourable loans thanks to the agreement signed today by the chairman of Bankia, José Ignacio Goirigolzarri, with the vice-president of the European Investment Bank (EIB), Román Escolano. Under the terms of the agreement, the EIB will provide Bankia with 200 million at favourable rates while the bank has agreed to lend an additional 200 million of its own funding.
During the signing ceremony, the vice-chairman of the EIB explained that "this new loan represents one more step in the EIB's unwavering commitment to support small and medium sized companies, which are the real backbone of our economy and essential for progressing towards a recovery in our economy". He also expressed his "enormous satisfaction at this agreement, which highlights the effort Bankia has made to design its new strategy, as well as the recovery and smooth functioning of the Spanish financial sector".
For his part, the chairman of Bankia said, "This agreement reaffirms Bankia's commitment to the business sector, for which financing is indispensable and is the best type of support that it can receive. At Bankia we want to accompany businesses in their investment decisions and this agreement contributes to this objective".
Loans with maturities of up to 10 years
Thanks to this agreement, companies with up to 3,000 employees will be able to apply for financing for investments in fixed assets or for working capital, in the form of a loan, leasing or credit line. Maturities will range from two to ten years and the interest rate will depend on the size of the company, its creditworthiness and the guarantees provided.
In the first nine months of this year, Bankia granted 7,212 million euros in new financing to companies, in more than 26,000 operations, representing 80% of the total.
Business financing is one of Bankia's priorities as demonstrated by its Strategic Plan 2012-2015, which forecasts lending of 51,700 million for the period, of which 43,500 million (84% of the total) is for large companies, SMEs, retailers and the self-employed.
In 2013 the EIB Group allocated €21,900 million in the EU
The European Investment Bank (EIB) is the European Union's long term financing institution that is owned by member states. It provides long term financing for viable investment projects in order to contribute to achieving the EU's policy objectives.
In 2013, the EIB Group (including the European Investment Fund) allocated €21,900 million to support SMEs and medium sized companies (€18,500 million from the EIB itself), which enabled it to support around 230,000 companies across the whole of Europe. In Spain the EIB granted €4,836 million for new credit lines for SMEs, with more than 47,000 beneficiary companies.
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