Governance

A strong governance is key to EIF's success and has been noted by external credit rating agencies. Further control and evaluation is carried out by several different authorities, such as:

• Chief Executive, responsible for the day-to-day management of the EIF and reports to a Board of Directors
• Board of Directors, comprising members designated by the three shareholder groups, meeting 9-10 times a year and accountable only to the General Meeting. The Board of Directors’ powers include to decide on all EIF operations and to adopt the guidelines and directives for the EIF’s operations and management. It submits the annual accounts and the annual report on the activities of the Fund for the approval of the General Meeting.
• General Meeting,  composed of one representative of the European Investment Bank (usually its President or one of its Vice-Presidents), one member of the European Commission representing the European Union, as well as a representative from each Financial Institution holding EIF shares. All Shareholders meet once a year at the Annual General Meeting (AGM), in particular to approve EIF's Annual Report and accounts as audited by the Audit Board. Shareholders also meet for information sessions during the year.
• Audit Board, an independent body appointed by, and answerable directly to, the General Meeting. The Audit Board's role is to confirm, to the best of its knowledge and judgement, that EIF's operations have been carried out in compliance with the procedures laid down in the EIF Statutes and in the EIF's Rules of Procedure, and are based on sound banking principles or other sound commercial principles and practices as applicable to the EIF. They also verify that the accounts give a true and fair view on EIF's assets and liabilities and the results of our operations.