The banking group is providing loans to Finnish companies making green and sustainable investments, with support from European Investment Fund guarantees.
Finnish companies could receive loans totalling up to €437m to boost green energy initiatives and support for digitalisation under an agreement where the European Investment Fund (EIF) will provide guarantees to back lending by Helsinki-based financial services provider Nordea.
The loans to Finnish small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and small mid-caps would support green and sustainable investments, including solar panels, electric cars, energy efficiency, and the adoption of digital technologies. These loans could range anywhere from €100,000 to €7.5m, depending on the types of investment involved, a Nordea spokesperson told Impact Investor.
The EIF guarantees will allow Nordea Bank to offer favourable terms, such as lower interest rates, to those taking loans. The guarantees are backed by the European Commission’s InvestEU programme, which hopes to mobilise more than €370bn of public and private investment between 2021 and 2027 for EU policy priorities, such as the green and digital transitions. The EIF is part of the European Investment Bank group.
“The new EIF guarantees will offer even broader opportunities for our customers to play a key role in Finland’s green transition,” said Nina Arkilahti, Nordea’s head of business banking.
Structure
The arrangement is underpinned by two EIF loan guarantees. The Sustainability guarantee supports the transition to a green and sustainable economy by promoting environmentally friendly and inclusive investments such as those in decarbonisation, renewables and energy efficiency. Meanwhile, the Innovation guarantee aims to improve access to finance for research and innovation-oriented companies to support the use of digital technologies.
The partners said their collaboration would enable Finnish businesses to remain competitive in a market that is becoming increasingly focused on sustainability and would reinforce the country’s economic resilience while reducing environmental impact.
Green financing drive
Nordea’s pact with EIF also covers other Nordic countries. A guarantee agreement signed in 2023 initially covered Denmark, Sweden and Finland, with Norway being added in April 2024. The InvestEU guarantee programme is now implemented in all these countries except Denmark, where it will be implemented at the start of 2025.
The EIF has also been supporting the green financing drive more widely across the Nordic region in recent months. In October, the fund said it was committing €100m to a green-energy infrastructure fund investing in the region run by German-based Prime Capital, which targets areas such as wind and green hydrogen. The EIF said its commitment brought the size of the Prime Green Energy Infrastructure Fund to €313m on the way to a target size of €650m.
Then, in November, the EIF said it was committing €40m to HAVN Capital II, a private equity fund being launched by Norwegian-based HAVN Capital, which is targeting a total size of €250m. The fund plans to focus on up to 10 growth-stage service companies across northern and western Europe that are driving renewable energy, electrification, and energy efficiency.
