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Our funding

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The European Investment Bank, a global issuer

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up to € 65 bn

EIB funding authorisation for 2024

Funding strategy

The EIB acquires the funds for its lending by borrowing on the international capital markets.

The EIB’s funding is balanced to be responsive to market demand, while also developing and maintaining a strategic presence. Our funding strategy relies on the issuance of large and liquid benchmark transactions in the main currencies. This is combined with targeted issuance (plain vanilla and structured), usually on the basis of diversification of currencies, maturities and structures and a strong and growing visible component of sustainable debt products.

The pursuit of liquidity, transparency and diversification of funding sources are core characteristics of the EIB’s funding strategy.

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EIB funding products

EIB Benchmark Funding activities cover around 60-70% of the Bank’s overall borrowing needs and consist of the issuance of benchmark transactions whose features are as follows:

  • Main funding currencies (EUR and USD)
  • Large issuance size (typically 3 billion to 5 billion)
  • Benchmark maturities (from 2 years to 30 years)
  • Issued on a regular basis (minimum 6 times a year)
  • Strong dealer commitment to secondary market support
€
 
bn

EARN issuances this year

EUR Benchmarks: Euro Area Reference Notes (EARN)

The EIB issues EUR benchmark bonds under its Euro Area Reference Notes (EARNs) Programme.

Between 35% and 40% of the Bank’s funding programme is raised in EARN format.

The Bank provides EARN benchmarks in a wide range of maturities, ranging from 2 years to 30 years.

To ensure liquidity, the issue sizes typically range between EUR 3 billion and EUR 5 billion and benefit from strong dealer commitment to support the secondary market.

The EIB typically issues at least two new EUR benchmarks per year and conducts taps on a selective basis, in order to inject liquidity or to meet specific investor demand.

EARNs are eligible for the European Central Bank’s various Asset Purchase Programmes and feature in most major bond indices.

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$
 
bn

USD benchmark issuances this year

USD Benchmarks

The EIB issues USD benchmark bonds in SEC registered Global format. Around 30% of the Bank’s funding programme is raised in USD Global format.

The Bank provides USD Global benchmarks in a wide range of maturities, ranging from 3 years to 10 years.

To ensure liquidity, the issue sizes typically range between USD 3 billion and USD 5 billion, and benefit from strong dealer commitment to support the secondary market.

The EIB typically issues at least two new USD Global benchmarks per year. The EIB USD Global issues feature in most major bond indices.

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Another cornerstone of the EIB’s funding strategy is the issuance of plain vanilla public bonds and private placements in a wide range of currencies (Euro, Sterling Pound, Scandinavian currencies, Canadian dollar, Australian dollar, Japanese yen, Swiss Franc, Mexican peso, South African rand, etc.) including several in synthetic format (Brazilian real, Indonesian rupiah, Egyptian pound, etc.).

For this type of issuance, the EIB takes a flexible approach in terms of maturity and size with the aim of addressing specific investor needs. The currency diversification is also governed by the Bank’s interest in contributing to the development of local markets in the countries that are eligible for our lending operations.

The Bank is particularly active in the following products:

£
 
bn

GBP issuances this year (excl. FRNs)

GBP Issuance

The EIB is also a regular issuer of public bonds in the UK market, where it benefits from a strong franchise and broad support from domestic and international investors.

 

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AU$
 
bn

AUD issuances this year

Kangaroo Issuance

The EIB is a well-established issuer in the AUD market, regularly accessing the market via its domestic documentation platform, the Kangaroo Programme.

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zł
 
bn

PLN Benchmark issuances this year

PLN Benchmarks

In 2016, the Bank decided to develop a benchmark issuance approach in PLN in view of the growing demand from the Bank’s Polish clients for loans in their local currency.

This initiative, targeted primarily to Polish institutional investors as the main reliable source for PLN, has proven to be very successful.

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€
 
bn

FRN issuances this year (in EUR equivalent amount)

Floating-rate notes (FRNs): ESTER, SOFR, SONIA

The Bank is a pioneer and dominant issuer in the new Risk Free Rates markets with outstanding bonds in EUR, USD and GBP. Over the last few years, the Bank has become a widely recognised setter of standards and practices that have been followed by other issuers in these markets. The Bank played the leading role in the creation of the whole market infrastructure for the new Risk Free Rates by developing the investor base, implementing the latest legal recommendations in the bond documentation and promoting the harmonisation of the IT infrastructure.

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The Bank plays a leading role in the green bond market, having pioneered the development of market best practice, governance and standards. Today, the EIB is among the largest multilateral issuers of green and sustainability bonds.

Climate Awareness Bond

In 2007, the EIB issued the world’s first Green Bond, called Climate Awareness Bond (CAB). CABs provide clarity and accountability through their dedicated use-of-proceeds. The CAB proceeds are allocated to projects that contribute substantially to climate change mitigation.

Sustainability Awareness Bond

The EIB issued its inaugural Sustainability Awareness Bond (SAB) in 2018. SABs are complementary to our CABs and extend their approach to further areas of environmental sustainability (other than climate change mitigation) and social sustainability.

Together, CABs and SABs span the entire spectrum of sustainability and a dedicated Sustainability Funding Team is in charge of their development and issuance. Today, these two capital market instruments are spearheading the implementation of the EU sustainable finance agenda, highlighting the EIB’s sustainable disbursement flows and reflecting the progressive alignment of the EIB’s lending activities with the EU taxonomy regulation to institutional investors.

Digital bond

In April 2021, the EIB launched its first-ever digital bond with settlement in the blockchain – EUR 100m 0% due April 2023, involving the use of a representation of CBDC provided by the Banque de France. It has since then issued another 3 digital bonds testifying to EIB’s leadership in digital innovation and paving the way for market players to adopt blockchain technology for the issuance of financial securities.

Structured debt products

The Bank’s product catalogue contains a number of structured debt products with a payoff linked to the development of interest and/or inflation rates, exchange rates and certain equity indices. In 2020-2023, the most common product was callable bonds (single and multiple calls) in EUR and USD with maturities of up to 40 years.

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  • Last modified-on: 07-07-2023