EBRD loans PLN 100 million to Euro Bank S.A. for energy efficiency of residential buildings in Poland

EBRD loans PLN 100 million to Euro Bank S.A. for energy efficiency of residential buildings in Poland

PLN 100 million in loans via loan to Euro Bank S.A.

LONDON, 29-Nov-2017 — /EuropaWire/ — The EBRD is providing a loan of up to PLN 100 million (€23.6 million equivalent) to Euro Bank S.A. (Euro Bank) to finance investments to improve the energy and resource efficiency of residential buildings in Poland.

The EBRD funds will be on-lent by Euro Bank via local currency loans to local homeowners, housing associations and private sector providers for investments to reduce the high energy and water consumption in Poland’s residential sector in line with minimum performance requirements.

The loan is being provided under the Polish Residential Energy Efficiency Financing Facility (PolREFF), a framework which offers loans for environmentally friendly investments. Improving energy efficiency and savings is an important step towards lessening Poland’s dependence on coal. As residential properties consume 53 per cent more energy per m² than the EU average, improvements in this area will also support the country’s efforts to reach its CO₂ emission targets.

The loan to Euro Bank is supported by a donor-funded technical cooperation package of up to €2.5 million, including €1 million funded by the EBRD Shareholder Special Fund, to assist the implementation of the project.

Euro Bank S.A. is a retail bank which started as a bank specialising in cash loans and today has a wide range of products for individual clients. It is owned by the French Group Société Générale. The Fitch Ratings agency has assigned to Euro Bank a long-term rating (IDR) of “A-“ with a stable outlook.

Lucyna Stańczak-Wuczyńska, EBRD Director for EU Banks in the Financial Institutions Group, said: “We are proud to sign this agreement and expect significant interest in the market for the energy and resource efficiency loans our loan will finance. The EBRD is pleased to notice an increasing awareness in many of its countries of operations of the importance of sustainable and green development. As in many other respects over the past 25 years, Poland could also be a frontrunner in this field.”

Grzegorz Zieliński, EBRD Regional Director, Poland and the Baltic states, added: “The start of the heating season is a timely context for today’s agreement. We look forward to working with a strong partner such as Euro Bank in order to reach as many investors in residential energy efficiency as possible. The EBRD offers a unique combination of financial sector instruments for green investments and we look forward to the successful rollout of our new credit line.”

Alexis Lacroix, President of the Management Board of Euro Bank, said: “Besides CO₂ emissions, our action in residential energy efficiency aims to contribute to improvements in air quality, which is a priority in Euro Bank’s corporate social responsibility. We are sure that marketing these environmentally friendly loans will further raise public awareness of the impact everyone can have on improving the quality of our environment.”

Since the beginning of its operations in Poland in 1991, the EBRD has invested almost €8.5 billion in more than 380 projects in the country. In addition to its wide range of products for banks and companies, in recent years the EBRD has built a growing portfolio of investments (both equity and debt) in the Polish financial sector, for which demand remains high.

The EBRD’s new transition concept argues that a well-functioning market economy should be competitive, well-governed, green, inclusive, resilient and integrated.

SOURCE: EBRD

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