BNI Europa makes €50m Funding Circle in Germany
Portuguese online bank BNI Europa and loans platform Funding Circle have teamed up to target SMEs in Germany.
As part of the agreement, BNI Europa will provide €50 million funding to finance small business loans over the coming months. This is its largest commitment to German small businesses to date.
BNI Europa reckons the investment will provide access to finance for around 600 companies and thereby help to create about 1,500 new jobs.
Pedro Pinto Coelho, executive chairman of Banco BNI Europa, says “an investment in German SME – the staple of European economic stability – is a highly attractive asset class” and Funding Circle is the “professional partner that convinced us with their risk assessment and credit analysis”.
Funding Circle says its 70,000 retail investors and institutional investors include Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW), the European Investment Bank, the British Business Bank and Dutch financial services firm Aegon.
In December, Funding Circle says it reached the milestone of €100 million loans funded through its platform in Germany. Since launching in 2010, investors at Funding Circle have now lent more than €4.7 billion to more than 40,000 SMEs globally.
The German business of Funding Circle is headed by Thorsten Seeger (previously Barclays and Lloyds). The firm is headquartered in London and has operations in the US and the Netherlands.
