- Second best result in the history of the Bank

- COVID-19 crisis over from a promotional perspective – Reduced demand for aid

- Special promotional incentives set in the transformation themes

- Promotional loans of 164 million euros granted in the context of the severe floods in NRW

- Two Green Bonds and four Social Bonds issued

2021 saw NRW.BANK extend promotional funds in the amount of 12 billion euros. This is the second highest promotional result in the history of the Bank – in spite of a 29 percent decline compared to the previous year (€ 17 billion). The decline was essentially due to the reduced demand for COVID-19 aid. In 2020, the promotional bank for North Rhine-Westphalia had extended COVID-19 aid in the amount of 3.9 billion euros, compared to only 905.4 million euros in 2021.

“This is a positive trend,” said Eckhard Forst, Chairman of NRW.BANK’s Managing Board, at the annual press conference. “The effects of COVID-19 are slowly subsiding, and the crisis seems to be over at least in promotional terms. This allows us to focus more closely on the future.”

To facilitate the necessary investments in the future task of transforming the economy and society, NRW.BANK had already introduced negative interest rates in its programme-based, municipal direct business in early 2021. This was followed in June 2021 by the introduction of negative funding rates under the house bank principle, which means that customers can obtain NRW.BANK promotional loans at interest rates as low as 0.01 percent. “This has allowed us to set stronger promotional incentives in the transformation themes in spite of the low interest rates, thus triggering investments in digitalisation and sustainability,” said Forst.

The individual promotional fields

In the promotional field “Economy”, NRW.BANK supported companies and start-ups in NRW with a total of 4 billion euros (2020: € 5.6 billion, -30%). The decline is attributable to the reduced COVID-19 aid, with new commitments dropping from 3.5 billion euros in 2020 to 898.3 million euros in 2021 (-75%). 

Demand for the NRW.BANK.Digitalisierung und Innovation programme was particularly encouraging. The volume of new commitments under this programme increased by 18 percent to 152.2 million (2020: € 129.1 million) thanks to stronger promotional impulses.

The equity investment business reached a new record level, with existing commitments climbing to over 574 million euros. New commitments reached 91 million euros. In 2021, NRW.BANK implemented several changes in this field, e.g. it made its venture fund even more market-compliant and launched a new expert committee, the “Venture Circle”.

At 3.6 billion euros, the volume of new commitments in the promotional field “Housing” remained at the good level of the previous year (2020: € 3.7 billion, -3%). Demand for the programmes relating to the promotional theme “Energy Transition / Environmental Protection” was particularly strong, with NRW.BANK granting 2 billion euros, up 12 percent on the previous year (2020: € 1.7 billion ).

In the promotional field “Infrastructure/Municipalities”, NRW.BANK extended 4.4 billion euros in 2021, down 42 percent on the previous year (2020: € 7.6 billion). Here, too, the decline was due to reduced demand for COVID-19 aid. Moreover, in 2020, NRW.BANK had extended special promotional funds in the amount of 1.6 billion euros via the NRW.BANK.Grüne Emscher-Lippe programme. The NRW.BANK.Gute Schule 2020 programme, which had made a considerable contribution to the volume of the promotional field, also expired at the end of 2020.

2021 saw strong demand for the NRW.BANK.Energieinfrastruktur programme with a volume of new commitments of 672.4 million euros (2020: € 493.9 million, +36%).

In the wake of the severe floods in North Rhine-Westphalia, NRW.BANK extended promotional loans in the amount of 164 million euros across all promotional fields for clean-up and reconstruction work. Individuals, businesses and municipalities affected by the floods received highly subsidised loans. Businesses additionally benefited from a 20 percent redemption discount.

Green and Social Bonds

NRW.BANK issues two Green Bonds and four Social Bonds in the promotional year 2021. The promotional bank started issuing the latter in 2020 and had since issued five bonds with a total volume of just under 3 billion euros. The Social Bonds help to create or preserve jobs, to facilitate home ownership for low and medium income families and to modernise schools in North Rhine-Westphalia. Green Bonds have been issued by NRW.BANK since 2013, when the Bank was the first promotional bank in Europe to issue such bonds. To date, the Bank has issued 12 Green Bonds with a total volume of close to 6 billion euros. They are primarily used to fund climate protection and climate impact adaptation projects. Carbon savings per bond amount to between 1 and 4 million tons.

Net assets and result of operations of NRW.BANK

As of December 31, 2021, total assets amounted to 153.1 billion euros (2020: € 155.8 billion), while the operating result stood at 260.0 million euros (2020: € 307.7 million). Equity capital as defined in the German Commercial Code (HGB) remained unchanged at 18 billion euros and the CET-1 capital ratio amounted to 44.4 percent (2020: 43.5%). This means that NRW.BANK was able to continue the stable trend of the past years.

For more information, visit www.nrwbank.de/jpg2022

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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.