Find here an overview of mandates managed and implemented by the EIF in the previous cycle of the EU financial instruments - mostly within the framework of the Investment Plan for Europe, and its financing pillar EFSI. Similar initiatives supporting better access to finance for SMEs are now available under InvestEU.
European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI)
EFSI was launched in July 2015 by the European Commission (EC) and the European Investment Bank (EIB) Group as part of EC President Juncker’s Investment Plan for Europe.
In this context, the EIF was charged with the delivery of the EFSI SME Window with financial instruments mainly covering debt financing (guarantees) and equity (investments in funds) – and it further entailed the COSME, InnovFin, EaSI, and Erasmus+ programmes.
The COSME programme was initially set up in 2014 by the European Commission DG GROW to promote competitiveness and entrepreneurship, improve access to finance for European businesses and provide higher-risk SME loans and finance leases.
Two financial instruments were managed by EIF: the Loan Guarantee Facility (LGF) and the Equity Facility for Growth (EFG), which ran from 2014 to 2020.
InnovFin was a joint EIB Group and European Commission DG RTD initiative under Horizon 2020, the EU’s research programme for 2014-2020.
InnovFin consisted of a range of tailored products – from guarantees for financial intermediaries and direct loans to enterprises, to equity and advisory services – with a view to supporting research and development projects in the EU-28 Member States and countries associated with Horizon 2020.
EU Programme for Employment and Social Innovation (EaSI)
EaSI was a flagship mandate managed by the EIF on behalf of the European Commission DG EMPL launched in June 2015.
The aim of the programme was to promote sustainable employment, guaranteeing adequate and decent social protection and combating social exclusion in line with the objectives of the Europe 2020 strategy. It offered a guarantee facility (GFI) and a capacity building instrument (CBI).
The Erasmus+ Master Student Loan Guarantee Facility provided by the European Commission DG EAC was launched in early 2015. It offered credit risk protection – through the EIF as its implementing partner – in the form of a capped guarantee or counter-guarantee to financial intermediaries that granted loans to internationally mobile master’s students.
The EIF implemented the S&E Guarantee Pilot on behalf of the European Commission under the umbrella of EFSI. This debt financing initiative dedicated to stimulating investments in education, training, and skills as part of the solution to get more people into jobs and respond to the European economy’s changing needs. The EIF provided a free-of-charge first-loss capped guarantee (or counter-guarantee) to selected financial intermediaries.
Culture and Creative Sectors Guarantee Facility (CCS GF)
Launched in June 2016, the CCS GF initiative was managed by EIF on behalf of the European Commission within the framework of the Creative Europe programme. The guarantee facility encouraged financial intermediaries to adopt a credit assessment approach that was deemed more flexible and suitable to the specific needs of SMEs and organisations in this sector. In addition, intermediaries benefited from training opportunities to better grasp sector-related challenges and opportunities.
The SME Initiative was a joint EIB Group/EC financial instrument to alleviate the financial constraints faced by European SMEs.
The programme combined different resources, including European structural and investment funds (ESIF), EU budget under Horizon 2020 and/or COSME as well as the EIB Group’s own resources. The EIF implemented an uncapped guarantee and as securitisation instrument in several countries.
Western Balkans Enterprise Development and Innovation Facility (WB EDIF)
WB EDIF promoted the emergence and growth of innovative and high-potential companies, and the emergence of a venture capital market in the region.
It consisted of four pillars in total: the Guarantee Facility (GF), the Enterprise Innovation Fund (ENIF), the Technical Assistance Facility, and the Enterprise Expansion Fund (ENEF). Of these, the EIF managed the GF, the Youth facility, and the GF4SME Resilience instrument.