Our Mission is to further the objectives of the European Union by making long-term finance available for sound investment.
The EIB Group promotes Corporate Responsibility through its mission and activities in the service of the European Union, through the way it implements these and through its internal management.
The EIB attaches great importance to engaging with civil society and building cooperative relations with its representatives.
The Bank receives many requests for information and certain questions recur regularly. Please check if your query can be answered by one of the links below.
For further information, please send a message to the Infodesk.
The EIB is a non-profit, policy-driven public bank.
The EIB does not:
The EIB operates like a development bank, raising its resources on the financial and capital markets, mainly through bond issues or other specialised capital market operations.
The EIB makes long-term loans for capital investment projects (mainly fixed assets) but does not provide grants. At a European level grants are managed by the European Commission.
Within the EU the EIB has 6 priority objectives for its lending activity which are set out in the Bank’s business plan, the Corporate Operational Plan (COP).
The COP is a strategic document, approved by the Board of Directors, for defining medium-term policy and setting operational priorities in the light of the objectives assigned to the Bank by its Governors. It is also an instrument for ex post evaluation of the EIB's activities. The plan spans three years, although the strategic projections may be adapted during this period in order to take account of new mandates and changes in the economic climate.
In 2005, about 89% of EIB financing went to projects located within the European Union.
Outside the EU EIB lending is based on EU external cooperation and development policies.
EU Mandates are:
Lending under these mandates focuses on:
The EIB is able to raise funds at advantageous rates due to:
Being a non-profit-motivated institution, the Bank passes on the benefits to its clients in the form of loans at fine rates.
Interest rates are based on EIB's borrowing cost with a small margin to cover administrative expenses and other costs.
The EIB can offer large loan amounts over long maturities in practically all major currencies.
The EIB never finances more than 50% of the total project cost, but the involvement of the EIB can act as a catalyst, encouraging other banks, financial institutions and the private sector to participate in an investment.
The EIB is financially independent. It operates on a broadly self-financing basis, raising resources through bond-issues and other debt instruments, mostly publicly quoted on exchanges around the world. The EIB is one of the largest non-sovereign borrowers on the EU bond market. For further information please see the Investor Relations pages on the EIB website.
The EIB Group's financial accounts are in EUR. However, promoters borrowing from the EIB may choose any of the currencies in which the Bank works, including:
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