Brussels, 25/06/2009 (Agence Europe) - The European Investment Bank (EIB) has signed a £100 million (€113 million) new generation EIB loan for small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) with the Abbey Group in the UK. Abbey will act as a financial intermediary for the EIB funds, passing them onto SMEs with eligible projects. SMEs should start to benefit from EIB finance early in the third quarter of 2009.
The EIB loan for SMEs to Abbey is the fourth new loan of its kind in the UK since September 2008 when the EU finance ministers called upon the Bank to extend, modernise and diversify its support to the SME sector to help small businesses weather the financial crisis. The new generation loans ensure that the final recipients - UK small firms - benefit from the financial advantage offered by EIB funds.
Small businesses are of the utmost importance to the UK economy. An estimated 4.3 million UK SMEs account for almost half of the country's private sector employment and around 40% of private sector turnover.
Abbey will borrow £100 million from the EIB to benefit smaller firms across a wide range of economic sectors. This will be the EIB's first loan for SMEs with Abbey; however, the Bank has long-standing relationships to provide financing to SMEs with Alliance & Leicester, the Group's subsidiary, and also with Abbey's parent company, Santander Group in Spain. (O.L./transl.fl)