Johnny Åkerholm: NIB reliable partner in good and bad times

The Bank is introducing the NIB Refinancing Facility in order to increase temporarily its lending to member country companies (see the press release). The NIB Newsletter has asked Johnny Åkerholm, the President and CEO, to tell more about the new product.

How do you see overall access to finance in Nordic-Baltic region?

"So far so good! The Nordic-Baltic region has clearly fared better than Europe as whole, and the banks in this region are, in general terms, in a good shape. But we do not live in isolation and we cannot be protected from the developments in Europe and worldwide. And it is apparent that the functioning of the financial markets is far from normal and the supply of credit is severely affected by an increasing need for a stronger capital base in many financial institutions."

Why is NIB launching this facility? Do you feel that NIB can make a difference?

"We see this as a precautionary measure. NIB has a strong position on the financial markets, and while we do not have the capacity to solve liquidity problems on a wide scale, we can use our position to act as a catalyst."

How large is the increase in lending compared to NIB's disbursement plans for next year?

"Our capacity provides for annual disbursements in the range of EUR 2-2.5 billion a year; this retains a continually strong balance sheet. We see our normal activity hovering in this range also in 2012, keeping in mind that we do expect investment activities to be clearly held back by the uncertainty in the global economy. The temporary facility would come on the top of this."

How much demand do you expect for this facility? Who would be the typical customer for it?

"Low or no demand would be good news, as this would indicate that there are no particular financial constraints in our membership area. While we stand prepared to make a contribution if there is a need, this is a facility for which we do not actually hope to see much demand."

How does the NIB Refinancing Facility fit into the mandate of the Bank? How does the NFR differ from other products of the Bank? How long will this option be available for the Bank's customers?

"We have no intention to step outside our mandate or our normal procedures of risk assessment. The basic difference is that this gives us a possibility to participate in the refinancing of projects which have been completed during the last three years."