About the Epb: The European People’s Bank (EPB) – Financing Europe’s Social Ventures The ECB offers to banks an interest rate of currently 0,75 per cent. But most of the entrepreneurs, even social ones still pay 10 per cent and much more. They are not able to provide to their banks the required ROI and securities such as real estates, stocks and bonds. - The private sector in most of the European countries is not able to provide capital and labour to integrate all people in a useful and productive framework of social activity. The Venture Capital Market in Europe is not able to provide capital for social ventures to overcome social exclusion, unemployment and a growing poverty. The poverty creates high opportunity costs in social welfare, security and health which are paid today by local and national taxpayers. Therefore we founded the European People’s Bank in order to bring the advantages of a peaceful and stable European Community directly to the people starting social ventures. How does the Bank work? The EPB is a cooperative. The members can have lots of 1000 Euro in the cooperative and have one voting right each. The lots build the Equity Capital of the EPB. Based on its Equity Capital, the EPB will take up capital from the European Central Bank at the current interest rate and provide it to Social Ventures with a maximum interest rate of only 50 per cent difference to the base rate of the ECB. Example:
Base rate ECB: 0,75 per cent Credit rate EPB: 1,125 per cent In order to insure the quality of the projects and of course the solvency of the EPB every borrowing request has to pass a new form of external audit: the Social Capital Assessment. The assessment can be conducted online within a week only. That means: credit decisions can happen much faster. In the beginning the new stakeholders of the EPB can pay their lot on a frozen account on behalf of the EPB in order to get started. If the EPB will not start because of legal reasons, the money will be refunded. The aim is to finance € 500 billion Euros to providing in average € 100.000 per project – and therefore start Europe’s biggest programme for occupation and social capital.