Czech Republic: Investment Plan for Europe - EIB supports the Czech-Moravian Guarantee and Development Bank in establishing an advisory unit

Today, the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the Czech-Moravian Guarantee and Development Bank (CMZRB) signed an agreement funded by the European Investment Advisory Hub as part of the EIB’s Call for Proposals “Delivery of local investment advisory services by National Promotional Banks (NPBs).”

Thanks to the funding support of the European Investment Advisory Hub, CMZRB will set up a dedicated advisory and business development unit within its structure, with the aim of increasing investment activity in priority sectors of the Czech economy, such as renewable energy, transport, circular economy, social infrastructure, digital economy, and digital and smart city infrastructure. Once in place, the unit will identify a pipeline of projects that need advisory support and will help promoters in the Czech Republic to prepare, finance and implement such projects. The support of the dedicated advisory unit will be made available to large-scale projects as well as to projects for small businesses and mid-caps.

Under this programme, CMZRB will focus on various business development and awareness-raising activities aimed at informing project promoters about the services of the new unit. The low level of awareness among project promoters about suitable support mechanisms has been identified as a particular vulnerability on the market and CMZRB will undertake targeted actions to address it. The unit will also help project promoters connect with investors, thus facilitating access to finance.

Lilyana Pavlova, EIB Vice-President responsible for Advisory Services, said: “We are very proud to be helping CMZRB develop their own advisory capacity through the establishment of a dedicated advisory unit that will support priority sectors of the Czech economy. This agreement builds on a long-standing relationship with CMZRB and represents an important milestone in the cooperation with our local partner in the Czech Republic. This additional support by the EU bank as part of the Advisory Hub’s activities will allow CMZRB to play a key role in supporting the development of sustainable investment projects to help the recovery of the country and support its transition towards a low-carbon economy, which is fully in line with our recently approved Climate Bank Roadmap.”

Jiří Jirásek, Chair of the Board of Directors of CMZRB, said: “CMZRB has successfully cooperated with the EIB for many years in a wide range of areas. The creation of this new advisory platform is a unique opportunity to enlarge our current scope of services. CMZRB’s strategic goal as a national promotional institution is to serve as a knowledge centre for financial instrument implementation in the Czech Republic. We believe that creating new organisational capacity will help us to bridge the gap, mobilising the investment potential of local project promoters.”

This agreement will complement advisory and technical assistance already provided by the EIB to public and private project promoters in the Czech Republic in the areas of energy efficiency, smart cities and sustainable infrastructure. CMZRB benefited from the Advisory Hub’s support in assessing the potential for establishing an investment platform in the area of energy efficiency, mainly based on the model of Energy Performance Contracts (EPCs), as well as with regard to smart cities. CMZRB also participated in exploratory work assessing the viability of establishing a regional advisory and investment platform for regionally important infrastructure projects in the Visegrad Four region. In parallel to the support of the European Investment Advisory Hub, CMZRB is also in receipt of a grant under the ELENA facility to support the preparation of an investment programme for energy efficiency investments in private non-residential buildings and EPC-based investments in public buildings.

The European Investment Advisory Hub (EIAH) is a partnership between the European Investment Bank Group and the European Commission under the Investment Plan for Europe. The EIAH is designed to act as a single access point for various types of advisory and technical assistance services. It supports the identification, preparation and development of investment projects across the European Union. Building our local partnerships across Europe has been a priority of the Advisory Hub since its launch in 2015. Today, the Hub’s partner network includes more than 40 local institutions, with almost 30 formal agreements signed with national promotional banks and institutions (NPBIs) and other partners. Through a dedicated Call for Proposals, the Hub made funding and technical support available to NPBI partners to develop their capacity to deliver advisory services locally and boost investments on the ground. Read more about the Hub’s support for energy efficiency investments in the Czech Republic here.

The EIB has worked with the Czech Republic since 1992 and invested in infrastructure, small businesses, environment and innovation. Since the start of operations in the Czech Republic, the EIB has provided €22.51 billion of financing to 185 projects.

CMZRB is the only promotional bank in the Czech Republic entrusted with the administration of funds disbursed within the assistance programmes launched by the government to help the development of small and medium-sized enterprises using financial resources from national or EU funds for guarantees and loans. The Bank’s activities result from its long-term strategy focused on contributing to the implementation of the economic policy of the government of the Czech Republic and its regions.