Editing European Investment Bank (section)

=== 1960s ===
In 1962 the Bank was authorised to finance projects also outside the [[European Communities|European Community]] (EC), which was created in 1957 by six Member States - Italy, France, West Germany, Luxembourg, Belgium and the Netherlands. These countries had signed the Treaty of Rome to increase the cooperation among the European countries after World War II. Also in 1962, the EIB issued its first loan carried out in cooperation with the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Vol. 17, No. 3, April 1962 of The Business Lawyer on JSTOR|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/i40029967|access-date=2021-04-28|website=www.jstor.org|language=en}}</ref> The bank loaned funds to three Italian companies: Sincat and Celene in Sicily, which needed funds to build a petrochemical complex, and Mercure in Lucania, to exploit a seam of lignite to produce electricity.<ref>{{Cite web|title=International Bank for Reconstruction and Development general conditions for loans|url=https://documents.worldbank.org/en/publication/documents-reports/documentdetail/937641468143062189/International-Bank-for-Reconstruction-and-Development-general-conditions-for-loans|access-date=2021-04-28|website=World Bank|language=en}}</ref>

In 1968 the EIB moved from Brussels to Luxembourg City, opened an office in Rome and adopted the global loan facility for small and medium-enterprises (SME) financing.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Annual Report 1968|url=https://www.eib.org/en/publications/annual-report-1968|access-date=2021-04-28|date=12 April 1969|publisher=European Investment Bank |language=en |last1=Bank |first1=European Investment }}</ref> The growing economies among the Member States of the European Community at the end of the 1950s and through the 1960s meant that the countries themselves were able to finance their infrastructure development, which lead to the EIB playing a supporting role.<ref>{{Cite book|title=A History of Europe in 6 Projects|url=https://www.eib.org/en/publications/history-of-europe-in-6-projects|access-date=2021-04-28|date=20 July 2018|publisher=European Investment Bank |language=en}}</ref>