The European Investment Bank (EIB) and Dutch bank ABN Amro signed an agreement on 21 April to unlock EUR 150 million in financing to support green shipping. This framework is the first with a financial institution in the Netherlands. It is supported by the “Connecting Europe Facility” and was made possible by the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI), a central pillar of the Juncker Commission’s Investment Plan for Europe. Meanwhile, the European Investment Fund (EIF) and Alba Leasing S.p.A. signed a top-up agreement on 19 April to provide EUR 120 million to around 200 innovative companies in northern Italy over the next two years. Also on 19 April, the EIB Group, consisting of the EIB and the EIF, announced that it has provided a guarantee of around EUR 90 million to Commerzbank AG on a EUR 1.5 billion portfolio of European corporate loans. The guarantee will release regulatory capital for Commerzbank under the current EU Regulation and thus enable the bank to provide further lending of several hundred million euros to SMEs and mid-caps, mainly in Germany.