The Institute complements the activities of the European Investment Bank Group (EIB and EIF) in the area of microfinance. Instruments – mainly grants and sponsorships – are available to promote conferences and other initiatives and to support higher education and research enabling the development of microfinance in Europe and beyond.

We sponsor the annual European Microfinance Network Conference, the annual Microfinance Centre Conference and the European Microfinance Day (EMD) as well as the Alternative Finance Forum created in 2017 in cooperation with the Microfinance Centre.

Until 2022, the Institute supported the Venice Microfinance Initiative. Run by students of Ca’ Foscari University of Venice this project puts the knowledge and expertise of a group of master’s students at the service of microfinance institutions working in Italy and Eastern Europe.

Microfinance has also been the theme of EIB Institute research grants under the EIBURS and STAREBEI programmes. In previous years, the Institute notably financed research by the Université Paris 1 on “the rising of credit risk in microcredit: origins, warning signals, current state and future prospects” and on “the Impact of microfinance on financial and social inclusion in Europe” by the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Italy.

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