Investment Plan for Europe: Agreements unlock over EUR 1 billion in loans for SMEs

The European Investment Fund (EIF) has signed agreements in France and Austria that will unlock over EUR 1 billion worth of loans for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) across nine countries. These transactions benefit from the support of the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI), the heart of the Investment Plan for Europe. In Vienna, the EIF signed an EFSI-backed InnovFin SME guarantee agreement with UniCredit which will allow the bank to offer additional financing worth EUR 160 million to innovative SMEs in Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, as well as Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia. In Paris, the EIF signed an agreement with Banque Populaire and the Federation Nationale des SOCAMA which will allow SOCAMA to support additional loans worth EUR 1 billion to an estimated 33,000 French SMEs over the next two years. Commenting on the agreement in France, Pierre Moscovici, Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs, Taxation and Customs, said: “This latest agreement made possible by the Investment Plan for Europe will unlock a billion euro in loans for tens of thousands of SMEs in France. Facilitating access to the finance that smaller businesses need to innovate and expand is a key component of the Commission’s efforts to boost investment, employment and growth throughout Europe.”