Europe and Central Asia

As part of UK FinTech week 2019, Oxford Economics is publishing a report, in partnership with Funding Circle, on the financial conditions facing small businesses in each of the online platform’s four markets: the UK, US, Germany, and the Netherlands.

This report calculates the total economic impact of loans made to SMEs through Funding Circle in 2018, including the number of jobs these loans supported, and the tax revenues generated in each market.

Jacques Bughin, a director at the McKinsey Global Institute, explains the three elements necessary to scale up artificial intelligence and where Europe stands.

"We need infastructure, we need a platform and we need data," Bughin says of AI strategy. "We have so many countries starting to say "'I want to do AI.'"

This paper provides a policy-oriented summary of a recent report to the European Commission’s DG for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs.

This analysis provides an overview of the main markets relevant to the EIF. It starts by discussing the general market environment, then looks at the main aspects of equity finance and the guarantee and SME securitisation markets and, finally, it highlights important aspects of microfinance in Europe. A chapter on Fintech also complements the analysis.

IFC expanded its investment commitments to throughout Europe and Central Asia with $2.9 billion in investments commitments to help promote access to finance for SMEs.

European investments included: $336.4 million to Romania, $190.5 million to Serbia and $129.1 million to Ukraine. According to the article, funds went to benefit the agribusiness sector and renewable energy production.

Washington, D.C., July 11, 2018 – The Council of Europe Development Bank (CEB) became the newest member of the SME Finance Forum, a global membership network that brings together financial institutions, technology companies, and development finance institutions to share knowledge, spur innovation, and promote the growth of SMEs. 

The European Banking Authority (EBA) published the first products of its FinTech Roadmap, namely (i) a thematic report on the impact of FinTech on incumbent credit institutions' business models and (ii) a thematic report on the prudential risks and opportunities arising for institutions from FinTech.

This analysis provides an overview of the main markets relevant to the EIF. It starts by discussing the general market environment, then looks at the main aspects of equity finance and the guarantee and SME securitisation markets and, finally, it highlights important aspects of microfinance in Europe. A chapter on Fintech also complements the analysis.

EIF research shows that small businesses are increasingly optimistic about the business climate as economic recovery is gaining momentum across Europe.