As a financial institution of the EU, the EIB should be subject to European legislation. However the EIB acts as an independent bank accountable solely to its shareholders, the governments of the 25 EU Member States. While operating with public money, the EIB is a largely unknown institution to the general public.

The EIB argues that its secretiveness is a result of its function as a financial institution. However, a comparative study by the Bank Information Center in Washington DC and Freedominfo.org in New York reveals that the EIB is vastly less transparent in some critical areas than other public international financial institutions, such as the World Bank Group and European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, both of which operate in the public and private sectors.

In 2006, the EIB organized its first-ever public consultation process for input on its new information policy. While Bankwatch welcomes some new positive features in the Public Disclosure Policy, such as a strong statement about a presumption in favor of disclosure, Bankwatch also disagrees with the policy’s broad exceptions to disclosure and is worried about the EIB’s performance in providing access to information in practice (see NGOs call on the EIB to adopt a new approach to its Public Information and Disclosure Policy).

In November 2006, in conjunction with a number of international NGOs, CEE Bankwatch Network organised a conference on EIB accountability: "Right to Appeal" - International Financial Institutions and accountability - on the way to independent compliance and appeal mechanism for the European Investment Bank. The conference was attended by speakers and participants from the EIB and other IFIs, the EU institutions, independent researchers, NGOs and the media.