European Investment Bank - History

History

The European Investment Bank was founded in Brussels in 1958 when the Treaty of Rome came into force. It relocated to Luxembourg, its current headquarters, in 1968. By 1999, it counted over 1,000 staff members, a figure that has nearly doubled by 2012; when the EIB was founded in 1958 it had 66 employees.

In June 2000 the Bank became a part of the newly formed EIB Group, which includes both the EIB and the European Investment Fund (EIF), the venture capital arm of the EU that provides finances and guarantees for small and medium enterprises (SMEs), of which it is the majority shareholder, with 62% of the shares.

The total subscribed capital of the Bank is EUR 232 billion, of which EUR 11.6 billion were actually paid-in. The capital of the EIB was virtually doubled between 2007 and 2009 in response to the crisis. The EU heads of government agreed to increase paid-in capital by EUR 10 billion in June 2012, with approval due for the end of the year.

For the fiscal year 2011, EIB lent EUR 61 billion in various loan products, bringing total outstanding loans to EUR 395 billion; one-third higher than at the end of 2008. Nearly 90% of these were with EU member states with the remainder dispersed between around 150 "partner countries" (in Southern and Eastern Europe, the Mediterranean region, Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Caribbean and the Pacific). The Bank uses its AAA credit rating and funds itself by raising equivalent amounts on the capital markets.