The European Investment Bank (EIB) and Crédit Mutuel Arkéa announce a €300 million financial commitment to support corporate investment. A first €150 million tranche was signed on Monday 9 December 2013 at the headquarters of Crédit Mutuel Arkéa in Finistère by EIB Vice-President Philippe de Fontaine Vive and the Chairman of Crédit Mutuel Arkéa, Jean-Pierre Denis. This operation follows on from the €120 million programme launched in 2012, which has benefited more than 650 SMEs.
This European financing will enable Crédit Mutuel Arkéa to step up its funding for the development projects of SMEs in the regions in which the group is established. This new loan will also boost the group’s action in support of midcaps (companies with between 250 and 3 000 employees), especially through its subsidiary Arkéa Banque Entreprises et Institutionnels.
This financing operation is particularly important at a time when SMEs and midcaps have been weakened by the economic situation and are finding it hard to secure finance. Their role is crucial to the economy: they account for more than two thirds of jobs in the private sector in France, as well as elsewhere in Europe, and their growth is stronger than that of large companies.
Against this background, Crédit Mutuel Arkéa seeks to play a structural economic role, stepping up enterprise support in its areas of operation. This is also the number one priority of the EIB, which deploys its resources and know-how to facilitate firms’ access to credit and help them with their development projects.
Jean-Pierre Denis, Chairman of Crédit Mutuel Arkéa commented: “Crédit Mutuel Arkéa has made strengthening its position in the corporate market a priority of its strategic planning. Since the end of 2009, our loan outstandings in this segment have risen by more than 42%. The signing of this new agreement with the EIB will enable us to reinforce our presence among SMEs and midcaps, which are the drivers of growth and employment, especially in regions, like Brittany today, that are going through hard times. In this way we are fostering the development of new activities in our areas of operation, in line with our role as a local bank”.
At the signing ceremony, the EIB and Crédit Mutuel Arkéa reaffirmed their historic cooperation in the financing of corporate projects: since 1991, the two institutions have signed 16 loan agreements totalling well over €1 billion in support of small businesses.
“In the current economic climate, this is key European financing for Brittany’s “Compact for the Future”. It sends a strong message to company heads and signals our firm commitment to supporting small businesses in their development projects. By giving them the means to grow and become more competitive we are helping to create jobs, especially for young people. This is the way forward” added EIB Vice-President Philippe de Fontaine Vive.
Fostering growth and employment in micro, small and medium-sized businesses is one of the EIB’s top priorities: a broad range of products channelled through intermediary banks and investment funds is available to such firms. In France, more than 100 000 SMEs and micro enterprises have attracted such funding since January 2012. This support for small businesses is echoed at the national level by the EIB’s unprecedented financing of growth and employment-generating projects in France, to which the Bank has so far devoted more than €6 billion since January 2013, representing an increase of more than 60% compared to 2012.
