New EIF-Banca Etica agreement to provide €200 million in support of social enterprises and microenterprises in Italy and Spain

• EIF is providing Banca Etica with a €164 million guarantee that will help support investments in the economy worth over €200 million.
• More than 1 000 social enterprises, microenterprises, SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises) and small mid-caps will receive loans on favourable terms.
• The agreement is supported by InvestEU, the European Union’s investment programme.

The European Investment Fund (EIF), part of the EIB Group, and Banca Etica have signed a new guarantee agreement that will help unlock investments in Italy and Spain worth over €200 million. The partnership was announced today in Madrid by Vice-President of the European Investment Bank (EIB) Gelsomina Vigliotti and Chair of Banca Etica Anna Fasano at the presentation of the 7th Report on Ethical Finance in Europe.

In concrete terms, the EIF, with the support of InvestEU, will provide guarantees totalling €164 million to Banca Etica, helping to unlock investments in the real economy worth over €200 million. The final beneficiaries will be social enterprises, micro, small and medium-sized enterprises and small mid-caps. The focus will be on promoting an ethical finance model that centres on collective well-being and sustainability.

This will include projects that support highly socially oriented investments, while also promoting environmental sustainability and cultural, creative and training initiatives. The EIF estimates that, thanks to this agreement, more than 1 000 businesses will be able to access new loans on favourable terms.

Today's agreement follows the €60 million agreement signed between the EIB and Banca Etica in July 2024, which aims to promote labour market integration and better services for refugees, making it easier for women-led companies to access finance, and support projects in cohesion regions.

"This agreement further consolidates the partnership between the EIB Group and Banca Etica with the shared goal of supporting an economy that focuses on people and social inclusion. We want to establish a framework so that every entrepreneur, regardless of their starting resources, can access finance on favourable terms to be able to invest in their future. Our aim is to promote a fairer, more even and more accessible ecosystem for all,” said EIB Vice-President Gelsomina Vigliotti.

“Thanks to these agreements Banca Etica strengthens the synergy with the EIF and the EIB, which for many years have recognised our specific know-how in terms of providing finance to the social economy. Banca Etica will therefore be able to provide additional resources on favourable terms to productive businesses that can have a positive impact on the community,” remarked Chair of Banca Etica Anna Fasano.

The financing provided to businesses under the agreement between Banca Etica and the EIF can take the form of unsecured loans, short-term credit lines, advance payments on contracts and invoices, or guarantees. Additionally, individuals can also apply for loans to support training initiatives.

For more information please consult the dedicated page on the Banca Etica website: EIF-guaranteed loans

Background information

The European Investment Fund (EIF) is part of the European Investment Bank (EIB) Group. Its central mission is to support Europe's micro, small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) by helping them to access finance and venture capital. The EIF is also active in supporting climate and infrastructure fund investments with a strong focus on environmental sustainability. In this role, the EIF pursues the objectives of the European Union to support innovation, research and development, entrepreneurship, growth and employment.

The EIF in Italy: The EIF has signed transactions totalling over €17 billion since it began operating in Italy in 1996, helping to support more than €98 billion of investment in the real economy. EIF financing has reached over 400 000 Italian companies, safeguarding more than 2.3 million jobs across the country.

The InvestEU programme provides the European Union with vital long-term funding by leveraging substantial private and public funds in support of a sustainable recovery. It also helps to crowd in private investment for the European Union's strategic priorities such as the European Green Deal and the digital transition. The InvestEU programme brings together under one roof the multitude of EU financial instruments currently available to support investment in the European Union, making funding for investment projects simpler, more efficient and more flexible. InvestEU has three components: the InvestEU Fund, the InvestEU Advisory Hub and the InvestEU Portal. The InvestEU Fund is deployed through financial partners that invest in projects using the EU budget guarantee of €26.2 billion. The entire budget guarantee will back the investment projects of the implementing partners, increasing their risk-bearing capacity and mobilising at least €372 billion in additional investment.

Banca Etica is the first and so far the only Italian bank entirely dedicated to ethical finance, operating for 25 years throughout the country via a network of branches and agents and via home and mobile banking services. It manages the savings of responsible organisations and individuals, using them to finance projects supporting collective well-being. It currently has more than 48 000 members, €92 million in share capital, savings holdings of almost €2.5 billion and loans of around €1.2 billion in support of the initiatives of organisations, families and companies in the areas of social cooperation and innovation, international cooperation, culture and quality of life, environmental conservation, responsible tourism, organic farming, the right of housing and law. Banca Etica is part of the main international ethical finance networks: Global Alliance for Banking on Values (GABV) and European Federation of Ethical and Alternative Banks and Financiers (FEBEA). The Banca Etica Group includes Etica Sgr, an asset management company that exclusively provides ethical mutual funds, Fondazione Finanza Etica, which promotes study and awareness-raising initiatives on critical finance education, and CreSud, which offers financial resources and assistance to microfinance organisations, fair and sustainable trade producers, associations and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in Latin America, Africa and Asia.

Press contacts:

EIB Group

Lorenzo Squintani, l.squintani@eib.org, tel.: +39 366 57 90 312

Banca Etica

Chiara Bannella cbannella@bancaetica.com

Corrado Fontana cfontana@bancaetica.com