The European Investment Bank’s new president has signalled openness to fund new nuclear projects, increase investments in defence and take on more risk as part by a pivot of the world’s largest multilateral lender.

Nadia Calvi?o, a former Spanish economy minister who took over the EIB presidency from German national Werner Hoyer last month, in an interview with the Financial Times laid out several areas where she would differ from her predecessor. Hoyer had steered the bank clear of investments in new nuclear plants and was notoriously risk-averse.

The EIB, which has a balance sheet of more than €500bn, is not banned from investing in atomic power, but it has shunned new nuclear generation projects since 1987, in part because of opposition to this form of energy from countries including Germany.