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Banco Sabadell and the European Investment Bank (EIB)  will provide EUR 800m to Spanish SMEs with the aim of supporting their investments and promoting the development of new projects, particularly in the services and industrial sectors. To this end, the EIB will grant a EUR 400m loan to Banco Sabadell, to which the Spanish bank will add an additional EUR 400m of its own. This means that the institutions will together provide EUR 800m to Spanish SMEs.

The agreement was signed today in Barcelona by EIB Vice-President Román Escolano and Banco Sabadell Managing Director Jaime Guardiola, and will make it possible to finance the full cost of investment projects of up to EUR 12.5m in the case of SMEs. Midcaps (companies with between 250 and 3 000 employees) will also be able to cover the financing of their projects in full provided the investment does not exceed EUR 25m. If the project cost is above this figure but below EUR 50m, companies will be able to use EIB funds to finance up to 50% of the investment.

The implementation of this credit line comes in addition to previous agreements between the EIB and Banco Sabadell that, in total, have made it possible to provide EUR 4bn to SMEs. The most recent of these agreements was signed in December 2016 and has helped finance more than 800 projects from a number of Spanish SMEs.

The companies that receive funds provided under this agreement will benefit from the EIB's favourable conditions – in terms of both maturities and interest rates – to finance their investment projects and working capital. Promoting SMEs’ access to credit is one of the EU bank's priority objectives in order to ensure the level of investment needed to make economic growth and job creation possible.

At the signing ceremony in Barcelona today, EIB Vice-President Román Escolano stated: “The operation signed today clearly demonstrates the importance of the EIB's work as a driver of the Spanish economy via our support for SMEs. Working together with Banco Sabadell will enable us to reach more companies that will thus benefit from the advantages of our financing to implement the investments they need, ensuring that they are able to innovate and grow in an increasingly competitive environment.”

Banco Sabadell CEO Jaime Guardiola said: “The agreement signed with the EIB is excellent news for Spanish entrepreneurs, as it will help to continue strengthening the development and competitiveness of Spanish companies, whether it be to consolidate or launch their business projects on the domestic market or to assist them with going global.”