The European Investment Bank (EIB) will finance Banco Sabadell with 300 million euros to increase the resources that the entity chaired by Josep Oliu allocates to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) affected by the economic impact of the pandemic. This agreement with the European public bank, which is periodically renewed, will allow Sabadell to grant double this amount to SMEs, that is, 600 million, thanks to a shared risk guarantee scheme.
Specifically, within the framework of the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI), the EIB grants Sabadell a guarantee of 300 million on a portfolio of existing business loans. Consequently, the bank frees up the resources that were associated with those credits and gains additional financing capacity, that is, it can lend that money again and support SMEs, which will be decisive in the economic recovery process.
"This type of operation is key to protecting the European productive fabric and for SMEs to overcome the financial difficulties caused by the coronavirus crisis," says Ricardo Mourinho, vice-president of the EIB. For his part, Sergio Palavecino, deputy general manager of Sabadell, emphasizes that these 600 million euros will be used to inject liquidity and promote productive investment.
Within the framework of the European reconstruction strategy, the EIB has created a Pan-European Guarantee Fund (EGF) endowed with 25,000 million euros, which will allow mobilizing up to 200,000 million in additional financing for SMEs.