European Investment Fund (EIF) is a specialist provider of risk finance to benefit small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) across Europe. We are part of the EIB Group. Our shareholders are the European Investment Bank (EIB), the European Union, represented by the European Commission, and a wide range of public and private banks and financial institutions.

We carry out our activities using either our own resources or those provided by the European Investment Bank, the European Commission, by EU Member States or other third parties.

By developing and offering targeted financial products to our intermediaries, such as banks, guarantee and leasing companies, micro-credit providers and private equity funds, we enhance SMEs access to finance.

By taking SME risk, we pursue our two main statutory objectives:

• fostering EU objectives, notably in the field of entrepreneurship, growth, innovation, research and development, employment and regional development;
• generating an appropriate return for our shareholders, through a commercial pricing policy and a balance of fee and risk based income.