Europe and Central Asia

geo/europe-and-central-asia

UK Government, Five Big Banks Sign SME Finance Deal

The UK cabinet has agreed to support SME financing in an effort to support export-oriented industries. Five major British banks (Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds Banking Group, Royal Bank of Scotland and Santander) have partnered on the deal to provide more finance options to export-oriented, allowing the UK to boost export volumes, create new jobs and spur overall economic growth – in the wake of Brexit. The government’s hope is that UK lenders will expand their working capital loans issuance, plus issuance of debt for international buyers.

European Small Business Finance Outlook

This European Investment Fund (EIF) analysis provides an overview of the main markets relevant to EIF, equity, guarantees, securitization, and microfinance. These main markets have been identified by the European Small Business Finance Outlook (ESBFO). Starting with a discussion of the general market environment for SME finance, analysts then look at the main aspects of equity finance and the SME guarantees / securitization markets. Finally, the paper highlights important aspects of microfinance in Europe.

 

Member News: EIB Announces €18.5 Million Backing to SME Investment Fund

A SME Finance Forum member, European Investment Bank Group (EIB), announced that it will provide €18.5 million to back a joint investment fund designed to lend money to SMEs through the crowdlending platform Lendix. Funding through the European Investment Fund (EIF), this is the second deployment of EIF funds through a lending marketplace to support small businesses. The initial release came after a 2016 investment in Funding Circle of the UK. It is the first marketplace lending investment in Continental Europe.

 

Financing sustainable growth for SMEs globally: The case for a coordinated G20 policy approach

The global economy continues to perform below potential and suffer from significant uncertainty. Despite G20 leaders committing, in 2014, to measures aimed at raising GDP by 2% by 2018 a lack of structural reform and serious constraints for financing along Global Value Chains (GVCs) continue to drag on growth.

G20 and Locally Focused Banks meeting, Berlin, 9 March 2017

I had the privilege of being included as a presenter at this one day meeting, organized by the German government (Federal Ministries of Finance and Economic Development, the BMF and BMZ), our member the World Savings and Retail Banking Institute (WSBI), the German Savings Bank Association (DSGV), the National Association of German Cooperative Banks (BVR), and the European Association of Cooperative Banks (EACB). Beneath all the acronyms was a very important discussion about the importance of diversity in the finance industry, the different roles different types of institutions might play in

Access to Credit Improved in Europe But Still Large Numbers of Underserved SMEs

The European Central Bank’s latest semi-annual survey on business financing, released November 30, registered further improvement in the financial situations of Euro Area SMEs and their access to finance. For the fourth consecutive six-month reporting period, Q2/Q3 2016, more SMEs reported bank credit more available and at lower interest rates than reported the opposite. This was in line with quarterly surveys of bank lenders, the ECB noted, confirming a favorable trend in credit supply for Euro Area SMEs.

Robo.cash Says Interest in P2P Lending Growing in Eastern Europe

Robo.cash, a consumer lender that operates in several European countries as well as Southeast Asia, reports that interest in peer to peer lending in Eastern Europe is increasing. The online lender states that growing volumes of the East European market confirm the indicators as from 2015 to 2017 they increased by 153%. Robo.cash posits that the main reason popularity is growing in Eastern Europe is that these economies are experiencing more rapid development.

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