The agreement will enable UCI to generate a new portfolio of green financing of at least 100 million euro in Spain and Portugal, which includes mortgages, loans to individuals and loans to associations. To this end, the EIB will participate in the senior tranche of residential mortgage-backed security (“RMBS”) for a total amount of approximately 100 million euro.
The securitised portfolio has been originated by UCI and is made up of existing Portuguese mortgage loans. This de-linked operation will reinvigorate UCI’s funding capabilities to launch and actively market new green energy product lines, thus expanding UCI´s financing capacity to provide energy efficiency loans in the region.
UCI will offer four different product lines: Green personal loans for the refurbishment of condominiums; Green personal loans for the refurbishment of individual properties; Green mortgage loans for newly built properties (energy classes A or B); and Green mortgage loans for existing properties (purchase and refurbishment).
The EIB support will enable UCI to finance the construction of Nearly Zero-Energy Buildings and the energy refurbishment of residential properties in Spain and Portugal, with the final beneficiaries being private individuals and homeowners associations. The project will help to meet the region’s climate and energy-saving targets and attract investments in the field of energy efficiency while promoting the capital market for Residential Mortgage-Backed Securities (RMBSs) in Iberia, especially Portugal, where investments in this field have been modest since the past financial crisis
This is the first project supported by the EIB that involves the creation of a portfolio of new energy efficiency loans that fulfil the requirements set by both the EU bank and the Energy Efficiency Mortgage Action Plan (EeMAP), an initiative run by the European Mortgage Federation and encouraged by the European Commission (EC).
Emma Navarro, EIB Vice-President responsible for the Bank’s activity in Spain and Portugal and for its Climate Action, said: «Despite the challenging circumstances we all face and the focus of our efforts in combating COVID-19, we will not lose sight of the EIB’s long-term objective to underpinning Europe’s transition to a low-carbon economy and society. We are very pleased to support this innovative operation that stimulates energy efficiency investments in Spain and Portugal and that shows our commitment to continue promoting green projects. We will do our utmost to ensure that Europe’s recovery after the health emergency is climate and environmentally-focused».
Roberto Colomer, Chief Executive Officer of UCI, stated that «Our collaboration with the EIB under the EMF’s EEMI project will allow us to continue promoting energy efficiency and more sustainable homes in both Spain and Portugal. The renovation of homes and buildings in Europe is essential if we are to fulfil the objectives of the Horizon 2030 plan for sustainable development in the EU, a goal to which UCI is fully committed».
«The recovery from the COVID-19 crisis should be based on a new green paradigm which secures new economic and social attitudes. The starting point will be a re-evaluation of the space and environment in which we live, in a completely different and, most importantly, sustainable way. Green investment in buildings will be the central cog of a mechanism which will trigger a new culture in the market», said Luca Bertalot, Secretary-General of the European Mortgage Federation.
Press Released By European Investment Bank