geo/europe-and-central-asia
This European Small Business Finance Outlook (ESBFO) provides an overview of the main markets relevant to EIF (equity , guarantees, securitisation, microfinance). It is an update of the June 2017 ESBFO edition.
SME Finance Forum member, BNP Paribas along with others, has launched Liquidshare, a venture aimed at exploring distributed ledger technology and its potential to disrupt small business lending. CASEIS, Caisse des Depots, Euroclear, Euronext and S2iEM are also part of the initiative, while Paris Europlace is reportedly providing support.
SME Finance Forum member Intesa Sanpaolo, has partnered with SME lender iwoca to provide clients with credit products that will help SMEs obtain financing. The partnership coincides with an investment in iwoca by Neva Finventures, Intesa Sanpaolo’s fintech venture capital arm.
Maurizio Montagnese, chief innovation officer at Intesa Sanpaolo, says that the “industrial synergies” between the firms “could be significant in the coming years” and allow it “to enter segments of the market not served by other banks."
The majority of SME applications for credit are successful. In fact, close to 80 percent of all requests are approved. However, higher rates of growth can be achieved by helping those SMEs which have not been successful understand better what they can do to obtain financing. The EBF actively supports the initiative of strengthening feedback provided to SMEs when their credit applications are not successful, especially in countries were national initiatives to facilitate this dialogue have not yet been fully developed.
The OECD Business and Finance Outlook is an annual publication that presents unique data and analysis that looks at what might affect and change, both favourably and unfavourably, tomorrow’s world of business, finance and investment.
Credit guarantee schemes (CGSs) are a commonly used response to address the consequences of market failures in the area of lending to SMEs, as guarantees reduce the risk of lenders and favour the provision of financing to viable businesses that are constrained in their access to finance. This report discusses the activity of CGSs in Western Europe and presents an analysis based on a novel survey, conducted by the European Investment Bank Group (EIB & EIF), among 18 credit guarantee organisations in 13 countries and 33 banks operating in 17 countries.
SMEs and entrepreneurs play a key role in national economies around the world, generating employment and income, contributing to innovation and knowledge diffusion, responding to new or niched demands and social needs, and enhancing social inclusion. However, SMEs are often more affected by business environment conditions and structural policies than larger firms.
A new OECD report on SME financing in 39 countries around the world suggests that while lending to SMEs is improving, a stronger economic recovery is being held back in part by demand-side barriers – such as low demand for credit and small business people’s lack of financial knowledge.
Lending to small firms in Europe has traditionally been the preserve of the banks; they have the networks and relationships to originate deals for these types of clients, but non-banks now have this business firmly in their sights. And as more banks and funds start to cooperate in this space, the latter can expect to appear more frequently in transactions for Europe’s small and medium-sized enterprises.
