Europe and Central Asia

This publication provides an overview of the recent trends and developments in financial education policies and programmes in Europe.  It describes the status of national strategies for financial education and various financial education programmes targeting a variety of audiences and through a variety of delivery channels. Based on the analysis of these initiatives, the report offers policy and practical suggestions for European policy makers and other stakeholders.

Financing SMEs and Entrepreneurs 2016: An OECD Scoreboard underlines that SMEs remain over-reliant on bank financing and points out the need for a diversification of financing sources and instruments. The Scoreboard provides comprehensive data on debt, equity, asset-based finance, solvency and the framework conditions for SMEs and entrepreneurs, along with an overview of policy measures to ease SMEs’ access to finance in 37 countries.

This report monitors SME and entrepreneur access to finance in 37 countries. It includes indicators of debt, equity, asset-based finance and framework conditions for SME and entrepreneurship finance, complemented by an overview of recent developments in public and private initiatives to support SME finance. Taken together, these indicators form a comprehensive framework for policy makers and other stakeholders to evaluate the financing needs of SMEs.

Following the introduction of stricter capital rules by the CRR and CRD IV, and in the context of credit tightening after the financial crisis, a capital reduction factor for loans to SMEs—the so-called SME SF—was introduced by the CRR to allow credit institutions to counterbalance the rise in capital requirements resulting from the CCB, and to provide an adequate flow of credit to this particular group of companies.

Ripple, the global provider of financial settlement solutions, today announced the opening of its European headquarters to better serve growing bank demand in the region. The office will be located in London, and led by newly appointed Managing Director of Europe, Daniel Aranda. New hire and industry veteran Patricia Pittomvils will join him as Sales Director of Europe.

BBVA has acquired Finnish online-only payments and banking services provider Holvi, as it seeks to expand its portfolio of digital businesses. Holvi will continue to be run as a standalone business, and Spain-based BBVA says there will be a “two-way flow of knowledge, ideas and support” between both parties.

The Report reveals the emergence of the ‘Millennipreneur’, a new generation of entrepreneurs under 35 years old:

• Each of whom has already started on average 7.7 companies, versus 3.5 among the elder ‘Baby Boomer’ generation.

• On average the annual turnover of businesses run by millennials outperform by 43% those by baby boomers.

• 78% of successful Millennipreneurs have a family history in business.

Sometimes it’s instructive to consider circumstances completely outside of one’s immediate environment to appreciate what’s happening here at home.

In the case of bank technology trends, it is striking just how familiar what’s going on in Europe seems. In some ways it mirrors what’s going on in the U.S.

Digitization, disruptive technologies, payments trends, and outright challenges from nonbank institutions ought to sound familiar to U.S. bankers—and those are at least some of the trends Europeans face…

This article on public equity financing for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) complements earlier OECD work on market-based finance for SMEs. The development of this market segment could promote investment in SMEs and, together with securitisation and other non-bank debt financing instruments, encourage an enhanced allocation of risk and risk taking, and thus support growth. Despite the benefits of public SME equity, its share is small and an equity gap exists for risk financing more generally.

There are a number of ways in which the SME market can be segmented and defined, but which characteristics are most appropriate for an effective engagement strategy is questionable. This report reviews the evidence published in academic, government and practitioner literatures, with a view to contributing to a framework for the segmentation of the SME market for Acas. In so doing, it aims to feed into the development of an appropriate strategy for Acas to better serve the SME population via its good practice services and dispute resolution services.