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 governed by the:
For further information on this and the structure of the services within the EIB, please see the EIB Organisation Structure pages on the website.
Established under the treaty of Rome in 1957 and created in 1958, the European Investment Bank (EIB) is the European Union's long-term lending institution. As a policy-driven Bank, the EIB supports EU priority objectives, notably European integration and social cohesion, through its financing operations.
The EIB Group was established in 2000, consisting of the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the European Investment Fund (EIF).
The EIF was established in 1994. It provides venture capital and guarantees for small and medium enterprises (SME). In June 2000, the EIF's Statutes were restructured and its shareholding structure was modified (with the European Investment Bank becoming majority shareholder) so as to endorse the role of the EIF as the exclusive vehicle for venture capital of the European Investment Bank (EIB).
The EIB is based in Luxembourg:
100, boulevard Konrad Adenauer
L-2950 Luxembourg
Tel: +352 43 79 - 1
Fax: +352 43 77 04
E-mail: info@eib.org
Map showing how to access the EIB by road.
The EIB has regional offices in a number of locations both inside and outside the EU (List of offices)
The EIB is an international financial institution, a publicly owned bank. Its owners are the Member States of the European Union, who subscribe to the Bank's capital - EUR 232, 4 billion. As shareholders the Member States are represented on the Bank's main independent decision-making bodies - the Board of Governors and the Board of Directors.
The EIB is the EIF's majority shareholder (62%). Other shareholders are the European Commission (30%) and some twenty EU private banking institutions (8%).
The current President of the EIB is Philippe Maystadt (Belgium)
Former presidents are:
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:
The EIB's clients are public and private sector bodies and enterprises. The project promoted by the public or private client must be in line with the eligibility criteria of the EIB and be economically and financially sound.
As a rule, the Bank lends up to 50% of the capital required for a project.
In general terms, the EIB has two main financing facilities (please note that the EIB does not provide grants nor does it enter into cooperation agreements):
No special formalities are attached to the submission of applications to the EIB for individual loans. Project promoters are required simply to provide the Bank's Operations Directorate with a detailed description of their capital investment together with the prospective financing arrangements.
Initial contacts to discuss a proposed project can be in any form, by telephone, fax, e-mail or letter. For such first contacts, the project promoter should provide sufficient information to allow verification of compliance of the investment with the eligibility criteria of the EIB and have a well-developed business plan.
The Bank will review the promoter's own comprehensive feasibility studies, and make a preliminary assessment of certain aspects of the project including:
This is then followed up with a detailed appraisal by an EIB project team, consisting of an economist, an engineer and a loan or contact officer within the Bank.
The project team will make use of all existing available reports, analyses and documents, and include a visit to the project's operating company and the investment's location.
The EIB forms its own opinion on the basis of available data and documents.
Assuming a satisfactory outcome the EIB review, a loan proposal will be put forward for approval by the Bank's Management Committee to the Board of Directors, which meets ten times a year.
Once approved by the Board, the loan facility can be drawn down in one or a number of installments according to the borrower's requirements, usually starting within 12 months of the approval date (Project cycle).
For further information on loan application, potential borrowers are invited to contact the EIB's Infodesk for general information on the loan application procedure.
Alternatively, a list of senior officials in the EIB Lending Operations Directorate can be found on the website.
Promoters are asked to consult the directorate for Lending Operations in Europe or the directorate for Lending Operations outside Europe and contact the appropriate teams via the EIB switchboard +352 4379-1.
The EIB finances a broad range of projects in energy, infrastructure and industrial sectors. To be eligible, such projects have to contribute to EU economic policy objectives.
Typically, the EIB supports:
Requests for venture capital should be made to the European Investment Fund, which is one of the leading sources of venture capital within the Union. Please note that the EIB does not provide financing for the establishment of new businesses.
The EIB does not normally provide grants or subsidies. Individuals and organisations interested in gaining access to European funds in the form of grants should contact the European Commission directly.
More information can be found online as part of the Bank's Sponsorship and Subsidy Policy.
In accordance with Articles 16 and 18 of the EIB statute, the EIB works with other banks, either co-financing projects or in security structures.
To allow promoters to make use other sources of finance wherever possible, the EIB's intervention in any project is limited to 50% of the cost of the qualified investment cost of a project as it is established during appraisal.
The EIB will finance up to 50% of the total project cost but financing may be combined with EU grants depending on the scope and definition of the individual project.
For all information on EU grants please consult the web pages of the European Commission.
The EIB provides long-term loans, running from approximately 4 to 20 years (possibly more), depending on the economic life of the assets to be financed.
As well as fixed interest rates, the Bank can offer revisable fixed and convertible rates, allowing for the change of interest rate formula during the life of the loan at predetermined dates or periods. EIB variable rate loans are usually available at a spread below LIBOR, fixed for the full maturity of the loan at the time of each draw down.
In addition to its usually advantageous lending rates, the EIB normally charges neither commitment fees nor non-utilisation fees, but fees for a project's appraisal and required legal services may be applicable in certain cases.
The EIB seeks adequate security for its lending, such as that provided by a bank or banking syndicate, a financial institution, or a large diversified parent company with a good credit rating. In certain circumstances, the Bank may also include a risk margin in the financing arrangements.
The EIB seeks assurances that no other creditor is in a more favourable position than itself, taking into account the tenor and expected amount of the commitment.
The EIB monitors the project's progress, and may carry out onsite inspection. It may also prepare an end of project evaluation report.
An EIB appraisal procedure can take any period of time between 6 weeks to 18 months depending on the project scope, the degree of complication of an operation, and the efficiency of the appraisal process on the part of both the EIB and the project promoter.
An EIB loan facility, once approved by the Board of Directors, can be drawn down in a number of installments, according to the borrower's requirements. Typically, an EIB facility is available for use over a two to three year period. Disbursements would be usually at short notice, 10 to 15 days following each disbursement request.
The maturity, repayment terms and amortisation profile of each draw down installment can be chosen by the borrower at the time of disbursement, facilitating active treasury management. Decisions on timing and choice of currencies, maturities and interest rate formulae are kept open and decided upon at the time of each disbursement request. As such, an EIB facility resembles an MTN programme without set-up costs.
The Bank's policy is to ensure that its funds are used rationally, in the interests of the project it finances and in the interests of the EU. The Bank verifies that a fair process of international tendering takes place according to procedures set out in the EIB Guide to Procurement which can be accessed online.
Calls for tender for EIB projects are published in the Official Journal of the European Union. This is mandatory for all non-EU projects. For further information please contact the project promoter directly.
As the European Union's financing institution, the Bank, in its dealings with external providers, is committed to respecting the fundamental EU principles regarding public procurement, such as the principles of equal treatment, non-discrimination and transparency. The Bank considers that, as a general rule, these principles can be best implemented by competition among qualified tenderers and by a selection based both on cost and quality considerations.
All information is published in the Official Journal of the European Union and announced on the EIB website in the form of a new item. For more information please see the Guide for procurement of services, supplies and works by the EIB for its own account.
For most EU and non-EU projects financed by the Bank’s own resources (funds raised mainly through the Bank’s borrowings on capital markets), firms originating from all countries of the world are eligible to tender for works, goods and services contracts.
The EIB and its staff are covered by a Code of Conduct, setting out the rules and standards for professional behaviour.
Members of Bank staff are expected to:
Within the Bank, a dedicated Compliance Office has been set up to identify, assess, advise on, monitor and report on the compliance risk of the EIB Group.
The team monitors compliance by EIB Group staff of the rules on ethics and integrity and recommends the adoption of protective or redressing measures where appropriate.
The EIB considers itself accountable to all stakeholders. It maintains and develops an active transparency policy regarding its activities and policies in line with relevant EU regulations and policies.
The EIB actively communicates with the European Parliament, the Economic and Social Committee and with Civil Society. It publishes its Operational Strategy on its website, as well as a wide range of information on its policies and procedures, including listing basic information about its project list and loans activity.
Nonetheless, the EIB operates as a bank and is subject to conventional bank-client relationships. This includes the need to protect the business and commercial interest of its clients, which may require keeping project information confidential.
The Bank has adopted an active policy against fraud and money laundering in the context of its financing operations. See the EIB Guidelines on Fighting Corruption and Fraud. Under the tendering rules the Bank applies, it requires declarations of integrity and identification of source of funds from promoters and tenderers (Guide to Procurement, sections 1.5, 3.5 and Annex 3).
The EIB does not seek to participate in business directories. As such, it is the policy of the Bank not to update details on an individual basis for such publications.
All information regarding the activity, aims and structure of the Bank is updated regularly on this website. Organisations wishing to include details of the EIB in their publications are asked to gather information directly and free-of-charge from the Bank's website.
Organisations who wish to include a textual summary of the EIB in their publications are asked to submit a proposed text to the Bank for validation (via the Infodesk) at least 10 working days prior to the deadline. Should the text be in an EU official language other than English, German or French, please allow at least 20 working days.
EIB cannot offer any advice. You need to contact your financial intermediary.
Investing in debt securities carries risks, especially in the case of structured or long-dated securities. Financial intermediaries who recommend investments in securities issued by EIB should ensure that the investors understand the risks attached to such investments.
Despite being called "fixed income" products, the price of a bond varies during its life, and therefore, the investor might not receive the same price paid originally in case of sale before maturity.
Plain vanilla bonds, are among other factors, affected by the evolution of the interest rates in the market and a potential change in the market's perception on the issuer's credit standing. The evolution of the exchange rate of the currency in which the bond is denominated could also affect the price of the bond.
The evolution of the price of structured products is subject to the specific characteristics of the bond.
It is very important that the investor understands the specific characteristics of the bonds (e.g. maturity, coupon structure, currency of denomination,...) risk factors and the appropriateness of the bonds for the investor's portfolio before any investment decision and what are the risks attached to those characteristics. Complex structures might require professional advice.
If you would like to sell your EIB bond before maturity, you need to contact your financial intermediary.
In general, large plain vanilla EIB benchmark bonds enjoy a higher degree of liquidity. Bonds issued in small sizes have a lower level of liquidity.
The EIB's hedging of issues means it generally does not gain/lose with market movements in the price of the bonds following issuance. At issuance, the Bank enters into derivatives contracts with different intermediaries to hedge its exposure to the movement in interest rates or to any other characteristics of the structure of the bond. Therefore it fixes at issuance the overall cost to EIB (in terms of spread to a short term interest rate reference) that a particular bond will have during its life.
Therefore, the EIB does not benefit from market movements during the life of the bond.
Price quotes on the most liquid and recent issues are shown by professional bond market participants on electronic trading platforms and on the Reuters and Bloomberg information systems. Particular pages are attributed to the largest EUR, GBP and USD issues on the Reuters system ("EIBEARN01", "EIBGBP01" and "EIBUSD01"), and in Bloomberg (EIB<GO>). Should you not have access to these information systems, please contact your usual intermediary to request current prices.
Newspapers also publish price quotes on selected EIB issues from stock exchanges as well as from participants in the market.
New issues are announced on the Reuters and Bloomberg systems and by the financial institutions underwriting these issues. The financial press also often reports the launch and provides details of new issues by the Bank.
In 2009, the EIB borrowed EUR 79.4 billion through 262 transactions, raising funds in 19 different currencies, of which 54% in EUR, 26% was in USD, 8% in GBP and the remaining 12% in other currencies (AUD, BGN, CHF, CZK, DKK, HKD, HUF, JPY, NOK, NZD, PLN, RON, RUB, SEK, TRY and ZAR). In three further currencies, BRL, GHS and ZMK, issues were in synthetic format. A synthetic currency format may be used when a currency is not fully convertible. This format implies that the denomination currency is different from the currency in which the payments are done.
On 31 December 2009, the EIB's outstanding debt amounted to EUR 302 billion.
The EIB has been given the highest credit rating (AAA) by major credit rating agencies ever since it was first rated in 1975. This means that EIB bonds have been categorised to be among the safest in the market in terms of receiving the intermediate and final payments.
The size of bond issues mainly vary from EUR 10 million to EUR 5,000 million equivalent. Smaller amounts are in general related to retail and tailor made issues for institutional investors while the large amounts are attached to reference issues in EUR, GBP and USD.
Additional tranches of an issue are often launched in order to increase the total outstanding size of the issue.
Bond maturities range from one year and up. Commercial paper and other short-term instruments maybe offered with maturities from one to 364 days.
A principal-protected security only assures receipt of 100% of face value (in the denomination currency) on maturity; anyone who sells it prior to maturity may have to realise a loss of principal.
The EIB is a non-profit, policy-driven public bank. With the funds raised in the market, the EIB makes long-term loans for projects but does not provide grants.
The EIB supports EU priority objectives, notably European economic integration and social cohesion, through its lending operations.
Benchmark bonds are large volume issues with standard features such as fixed interest rate coupons and redemption only at final maturity (so-called plain vanilla transactions). The Bank has built up large size issues all across the yield curves in EUR, GBP and USD.
Structured issues are characterised by unforeseeable coupon and/or redemption amounts (however, issues linked to standard interest rate indices like EURIBOR are not considered structured issues).
Nominal amounts varies from bond to bond and may be also be termed "face value". Issues aiming to enhance access for retail investors may have nominal amounts ranging from EUR 100 to EUR 1,000. Issues targeted merely to institutional investors might have larger denominations.
This will depend on the laws and regulations of the country where the bondholder is resident for tax purposes. In some countries, EIB bonds may be treated as government bonds; in others they may be treated in the same way as bonds issued by private companies. In some countries, the tax status may vary depending on the currency of issue. For further information, bondholders should consult their own tax authority or an appropriate professional adviser.
EIB bonds span a wide range from large benchmark/reference issues to smaller targeted issues.
With the aim of creating large reference issues with a high degree of liquidity, the EIB has built up in recent years a series of benchmark issues all along the yield curve in the main currencies: EUR, GBP and USD. It also offers benchmark in other currencies. The Bank aims to foster secondary market liquidity that is provided by the major investment banks in each market.
Benchmark bonds are mainly bought at launch by institutional investors, while the smaller size, plain vanilla issues, which the Bank offers in a wide range of currencies, may also be taken up by retail investors.
The EIB securities are mostly listed on one or more stock exchanges. The EIB Eurobonds are mainly listed on the Luxembourg and/or the London Stock Exchanges. Securities launched on the basis of documentation particular to a country will generally be listed in that country. While the vast majority of issues are listed, some public bonds and private placements might - accommodating the wishes of investors - not be listed on an exchange.
Clearing of the EIB bonds takes place through one or more clearing systems (as specified in the documentation of the particular bond issue) such as Euroclear, Clearstream, CREST and the Depository Trust Company (DTC).
Fiscal and paying agents are specialised units of major banks.
The EIB does not directly sell its bonds to investors. EIB bonds are sold through financial intermediaries. Should you require advice for your specific investment needs or wish to invest in one of EIB's securities we suggest that you contact your bank or financial adviser.
This can for example be obtained from the following website created by the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association: www.investinginbondsEurope.org
EIB bonds are of the highest credit quality, which minimizes the risk of investors not receiving coupon payments or final payment.
However, the price of and returns on fixed income products are affected by market conditions (e.g. evolution of interest rates, which need to be taken into account, in particular if the investor has the intention to sell the bonds before maturity.
It is very important that the investor understands the specific characteristics of the bonds (e.g. maturity, coupon structure, currency of denomination,...) risk factors and the appropriateness of the bonds for the investor's portfolio before any investment decision and what are the risks attached to those characteristics. Complex structures might require professional advice.
Investors who hold bonds denominated in a currency that is considered by them to be a foreign currency also take currency risk. Such investors may find that the foreign currency returns on those bonds, when converted back into their home currency, are less than they expected due to movements in foreign exchange rates. Investors also take the risk of any foreign exchange controls to which the currency may be, or may become, subject
Copyright © European Investment Bank 2010
The European Investment Bank is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
