EBRD designed GEFF to be a flexible financing facility for participating financial institutions (PFIs), who were enabled to choose how to lend to help households become greener. Options included lending to:
All three PFIs chose to set up only lending products for individual borrowers:
Banca Transilvania created three products
Although BT exhausted its €40 million EBRD funding in 2019 it continues to offer Banca Transilvania green home mortgages from its own financial resources in 2021.
UniCredit Bank (UCB) created:
Although UCB exhausted its entire €35 million EBRD funding in 2018, it continues to offer UniCredit Bank green mortgages from its own financial resources in 2021.
UniCredit Consumer Financing (UCF) created
An initial €10 million of EBRD financing was used help UCF’s customers buy energy efficient household products and materials such as refrigerators, freezers, air conditioners, lighting, boilers, home insulation and windows. The product was set up in 2019, and reached its €10 million lending target in the spring of 2020, just as the Covid-19 pandemic started.
UCF went on to borrow another €15 million from EBRD, and, following an 18-month break, re-launched its successful green consumer loan product in the autumn of 2021.
When UCF’s second GEFF loan has been converted into customer credits, EBRD will achieve its target of €100 million of green lending to households in Romania (€40 million BT, €35 million UCB, €25 million UCF).