The Commission welcomes the signing of five new agreements between the European Investment Bank Group and Banca di Credito Popolare, Banca Popolare di Bari, Banco di Napoli, UniCredit and Unione di Banche Italiane, under the SME initiative in Italy. With a EUR 100 million contribution from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), the ‘SME Initiative’ invests the Cohesion Policy funds in an innovative way in order to improve access to funding for small and medium enterprise
- 26 January 2018
The Commission welcomes the signing of five new agreements between the European Investment Bank Group and Banca di Credito Popolare, Banca Popolare di Bari, Banco di Napoli, UniCredit and Unione di Banche Italiane, under the SME initiative in Italy.
With a EUR 100 million contribution from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), the ‘SME Initiative’ invests the Cohesion Policy funds in an innovative way in order to improve access to funding for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and provide more advantageous conditions. The five agreements should generate almost EUR 1.3 billion of funding for SMEs in the regions of Southern Italy.
The Commissioner for Regional Policy, Corina Crețu commented that: ‘By specifically targeting small businesses in Southern Italy and improving their access to funding, the five agreements signed today will stimulate the economy of the whole country; there are so many talented people and great ideas in these regions, and they just need a little financial help to make their projects a reality. I would like to congratulate the Italian authorities for their use of this innovative cohesion policy tool: the SME Initiative.’
A press release is available on the European Investment Fund website.