Annual press conference 2021: NRW.BANK strongly increases promotion in year marked by COVID-19

Summary:
- €17 billion in new commitments
- 10,000 repayments suspended and deferred
- 44,200 consultations
- Demand for ‘green’ financing increases in spite of Covid-19

In 2020, a year marked by the coronavirus pandemic, NRW.BANK granted promotional funds in the amount of €17.0 billion, up by 65% on the previous year (€10.3 billion). Of this total, €3.9 billion was coronavirus-related aid. In addition, the Bank suspended and deferred some 10,000 repayments. Besides the financial support, advisory services were in particularly high demand. 44,200 consultations were held across all target groups, compared to 29,600 in the previous year (+49%).

“Last year, promotional banks recorded higher demand than ever,” said Eckhard Forst, Chairman of the Managing Board of NRW.BANK. “To mitigate the social and economic consequences of the coronavirus pandemic, we have placed a focus on the swift on-lending of federal promotional funds, increased risk assumptions and equity offerings as well as advisory services in any digital form,” said Forst, adding that the crisis is far from over. “Our mission for 2021 is to work with the federal state to ensure that the economic upswing after the end of the lockdown is successful and that struggling companies recover. And for that we stand ready.”

The effects of the pandemic were particularly felt in the promotional field Economy, where NRW.BANK doubled the promotional funds committed to more than €5.6 billion in 2020, compared to €2.7 billion in the previous year. Demand for the coronavirus-induced aid programmes of KfW Bankengruppe, which are on-lent by the Bank, amounted to €3.5 billion.

New equity investment exposures totalled €65.0 million. €51.4 million of this was seed financing, of which, in turn, €30.3 million was related to Covid-19 aid. The accumulated capital invested stood at €508.2 million at the end of the year.

Here, NRW.BANK’s new NRW.Start-up akut programme, which granted €20.8 million to 112 young companies, deserves a special mention. The programme offered quick help to start-ups that had been affected by the pandemic and were less than three years old by offering convertible loans of up to €200,000 over a term of six years.

Last year NRW.BANK carried out a total of 136 new financing rounds – up from 45 in the previous year.

The volume of new commitments in the promotional field Housing increased to €3.7 billion or 42% (previous year: € 2.6 billion). Of which, €1.037 billion was related to the federal state’s housing promotion, compared to €937.9 million in the previous year (+11%).

Energy-efficient building and refurbishment were funded with a total of €1.7 billion (previous year: €741.5 million; >+100%).

In the promotional field Infrastructure/Municipalities, the volume of new commitments rose by 55% to €7.6 billion (previous year: €4.9 billion). €368.9 million of this was coronavirus-related aid with the bulk, at a total of €350 million, going to the NRW airports in Düsseldorf and Cologne/Bonn.

The funds from the NRW.BANK.Gute Schule 2020 programme were drawn in full (€809.6 million; previous year €460.6 million; +76%). This means that a total of €2 billion has been invested in North Rhine-Westphalia’s school infrastructure over the last four years as planned through this programme. In addition, a further €73.6 million (previous year: €65.2 million; +13%) was financed under the NRW.BANK.Moderne Schule programme in 2020. This programme has been available to the municipalities with negative interest rates since early 2021.

Demand for green financing increased in spite of the coronavirus pandemic: In the promotional theme Energy Transition/Environmental Protection, NRW.BANK committed a total of €4.3 billion across all promotional fields (previous year: €1.6 billion; >+100%). This includes, for example, programmes for the renaturation of the River Emscher as well as for the promotion of energy infrastructures and electromobility.

Earnings and key figures of NRW.BANK

As at 31 December 2020, total assets amounted to €155.8 billion (previous year: €149.2 billion). At €307.7 million (previous year: €194.6 million), the operating result before risk provisions/revaluation adjustments showed the same stable trend as in the past years. Equity capital as defined in the German Commercial Code (HGB) amounted to €18 billion and the CET-1 capital ratio stood at 43.9% (previous year: 43.5%).

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About NRW.BANK

NRW.BANK is the promotional bank of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW). Its mission is to support its owner – the state of North Rhine-Westphalia – in the completion of its structural and economic policy tasks. In its three promotional fields “Economy”, “Housing” and “Infrastructure/Municipalities”, NRW.BANK uses a wide range of promotion tools – from low-interest promotion loans to equity financing to advisory services. It cooperates with all banks and savings banks based in NRW on a competition-neutral basis. NRW.BANK takes into account the existing offers by the Federal Government, the North Rhine-Westphalian government and the European Union in the arrangement of its promotion.