Luxembourg, Luxemburg – EIB today announced that Bertrand de Mazières, currently Chief Executive of the Agence France Trésor (AFT), will succeed René Karsenti as Director General of Finance. Mr. de Mazières is expected to take office summer 2006.

Commenting on the appointment, Philippe Maystadt, President of EIB, said: “With the appointment of Bertrand de Mazières, EIB has again been able to attract an executive of the highest calibre to this key role. We are delighted that he has agreed to join the Bank and believe that his distinguished achievements and highly relevant experience will enable him to make a valuable contribution to the Bank.” Bertrand de Mazières is a graduate of ENA (France’s National School of Administration for top civil servants) as well as HEC (a leading French business school).

He has been Chief Executive of the AFT (the French government agency tasked with handling government debt and treasury management) since 2003. He started his career in 1982 at the French Treasury Directorate, in particular as attaché for financial affairs in the U.S. and in Canada. He then headed the French bureau in charge of supervising credit institutions and bank regulations (1988 to 1993). Following this he assisted the Permanent Head of the Treasury for Debt and Development Affairs and was also Vice Chairman of the Paris Club (1993 to 1996). He was appointed Secretary General of France’s financial markets authority, Conseil des Marchés Financiers (CMF), when the latter was founded in October 1996. In December 2003, when CMF was merged into the Autorité des Marchés Financiers, he joined AFT as Chief executive.