The European Investment Bank (EIB) and Greece’s four systemic banks have agreed to a new collaboration in the form of a €700 million guarantee programme to support mid-caps in Greece.

More specifically, the four participating banks—Alpha Bank, National Bank of Greece, Eurobank, and Piraeus—have agreed to cover 50% of any losses that might occur in portfolios worth €1.4 billion of new financing on a loan-by-loan basis.

LOANS AT FAVOURABLE TERMS
As a result, eligible businesses with between 250 and 3,000 employees will be able to get loans at favourable terms through the four banks to finance their working capital needs and investments, which are vital for their sustainability and competitiveness, as the relevant announcement states. 

These new agreements, which are part of the EIB’s EU-wide linked risk-sharing (LRS) programme, are expected to mobilise a total of almost €2 billion worth of fresh financing for eligible mid-caps across the country, taking into account their own and third-party resources that are expected to be raised.

On Wednesday, July 24, in Athens, EIB Vice President Yannis Tsakiris and the representatives of the four systemic banks inaugurated the new programme and highlighted the impact of their partnership in supporting the real economy in Greece, enhancing its competitiveness, fostering job security, and creating jobs.

“We have been working consistently with Greece's four systemic banks to support the country's real economy with financing and guarantee agreements like this, which give greater access to credit and more favourable financing terms for medium-sized businesses. Access to liquidity remains equally important for Greek businesses in order to strengthen their competitiveness, given the current situation of increased interest rates,” said EIB Vice President Yannis Tsakiris.

EUROBANK
Panagiotis Lymperopoulos, Eurobank’s General Manager and Head of Large Corporate & Loan Syndications, said: “Eurobank consistently supports entrepreneurship over time, with a view to the stable and continuous growth of the Greek economy. With the participation in the new guarantee programme of the European Investment Bank, which proves once again the strong cooperation between EIB and Eurobank, we are taking another important step to support healthy business across its entire range, contributing significantly to the modernization of the Greek production model and the establishment of sustainable growth that will last over time.”

NATIONAL BANK
“The support of medium-sized enterprises is an ongoing priority for the National Bank of Greece (NBG), while through its long-term cooperation with the European Investment Bank (EIB), NBG has provided loans of more than €3 billion. In this context, it is important that we are expanding our successful cooperation with the EIB with a new guarantee program that will enable financing with favourable terms for even more companies throughout Greece,” stated Vassilis Karamouzis, General Manager of Corporate and Investment Banking at the National Bank of Greece.

PIRAEUS BANK
“The EIB Group has been a significant and prominent partner for Piraeus. Through our seamless cooperation, we have released numerous funding tools that have assisted Greek businesses in their investments, competitiveness, and job creation, creating a lending portfolio exceeding €5 billion. Piraeus, appreciating its cooperation with EIB and the remarkable results, takes pride in participating in the EIB LRS program—a programme that will provide necessary funding for the support of the real economy,” stated Theodore Tzouros, Executive General Manager, Chief Corporate & Investment Banking of Piraeus.

ALPHA BANK
“Our leading position in the Greek business landscape, with 65% of small and medium-sized enterprises maintaining an active funding relationship with Alpha Bank, places an even more significant responsibility on us to help our clients improve their sustainability and resilience. The new partnership with the EIB strengthens our ability to meet this responsibility, as the EIB program expands the options available to support Greek medium-sized enterprises by offering favourable terms for financing their capital needs and investment projects that improve their competitiveness, thus contributing to their growth, while also fostering job creation,” said Yannis Emiris, General Manager of Wholesale Banking at Alpha Bank.