Rabobank shares risk on part of its SME loan portfolio with EIF and EIB - Main contents
Rabobank has shared the risk on a part of its Dutch SME portfolio with the European Investment Fund (EIF) and the European Investment Bank (EIB i). This contributes to further optimisation of Rabobank’s balance sheet and stimulates lending to Dutch SMEs.
The transaction relates to more than 3,000 loans to Dutch SMEs originated by Rabobank with a total amount of circa EUR 2 billion and will be guaranteed by the EU i budget under the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI), which forms a central part of the “Investment Plan for Europe” of the Juncker Commission i.
Jyrki Katainen i, European Commission Vice-President for Jobs, Growth, Investment and Competitiveness, said: "Thanks to this transaction supported by the European Fund for Strategic Investments, Rabobank will be able to lend more money to local businesses in the Netherlands. Dutch SMEs will be the winners in this deal."
Wiebe Draijer i, Chairman of Rabobank’s Managing Board: “This transaction underlines Rabobank’s ongoing commitment to its SME clients. As a result of the risk transfer, risk-weighted assets will decrease by EUR 1.2 billion. Rabobank will use the freed-up capital to grant new loans to Dutch SMEs. Just like EIF and EIB we intend to stimulate lending to SMEs. We will transfer the discount granted to us by EIF and EIB to our customers. EUR 768 million of newly originated SME loans will benefit from this.”
“The EIF is delighted to be signing this securitisation transaction with Rabobank to support SMEs and mid-caps in the Netherlands”, said the Chief Executive of the European Investment Fund Pier Luigi Gilibert. "This new agreement will help to boost lending for small and medium-sized businesses across the country.”
The risk transfer to EIF and EIB has no consequences for the client relationship: clients will keep their contacts with Rabobank, and loan contracts and conditions remain unchanged. Rabobank is a leading SME loan provider in the Netherlands with a total SME portfolio of approximately EUR 100 billion.
Background information:
The European Investment Bank (ElB) is the long-term lending institution of the European Union owned by its Member States. It makes long-term finance available for sound investment in order to contribute towards EU policy goals. Last year the EIB provided some EUR 2.18 billion for projects in the Netherlands.
Rabobank is an international financial services provider operating on the basis of cooperative principles. It offers retail banking, wholesale banking, private banking, leasing and real estate services. As a cooperative bank, Rabobank puts customers’ interests first in its services. Rabobank is committed to being a leading customer-focused cooperative bank in the Netherlands and a leading food and agri bank worldwide. Rabobank employs approximately 43,810 people internally and externally. Rabobank Group is active in 40 countries. For more information about the Rabobank Group go to www.rabobank.com.
The European Investment Fund's (EIF) is part of the European Investment Bank group. Its central mission is to support Europe's micro, small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) by helping them to access finance. EIF designs and develops venture and growth capital, guarantees and microfinance instruments which specifically target this market segment. In this role, EIF fosters EU objectives in support of innovation, research and development, entrepreneurship, growth, and employment.
The Investment Plan for Europe
The Investment Plan for Europe focuses on strengthening European investments to create jobs and growth. It does so by making smarter use of new and existing financial resources, removing obstacles to investment, providing visibility and technical assistance to investment projects. The European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI) is the central pillar of the Juncker Plan. It provides a first loss guarantee, allowing the EIB to invest in more, often riskier, projects. So far, the projects and agreements approved for financing under the EFSI are expected to mobilise more than EUR 274 billion in investments and support around 600,000 SMEs across all 28 Member States. Find the latest EFSI figures by sector and by country here. For more info, please see the FAQs.