33% of SMEs lacked finance required in 2013

Access to finance remains a top concern of SMEs in the EU, whilst younger and smaller firms suffer the most according to the ‘Access to Finance’ survey released by the European Commission and European Central Bank.

According to the survey results, one third of the SMEs did not manage to get the full financing they had planned for during 2013 and 15% of survey respondents saw access to finance as a significant problem for their companies. Businesses also believed that bank financing conditions worsened during 2013, with respect to interest rates, collateral and required guarantees.

Antonio Tajani, European Commission Vice-President responsible for Industry and Entrepreneurship, commented: “Since the start of the crisis, evidence has consistently shown that SMEs face large and disproportionate obstacles to accessing the finance they need to survive and thrive.

“This is why we are introducing the Competitiveness of Enterprises and Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (COSME) programme, to focus on facilitating access to finance for SMEs. COSME will provide a guarantee facility for SME loans up to and even over €150,000 and we expect that from now until 2020 around 344,000 EU firms will receive COSME backed loans.”

COSME will complement Horizon 2020 to help generate growth and jobs. COSME is the first-ever Commission programme that is exclusively dedicated to supporting SMEs. Running between 2014 and 2020, COSME will provide a guarantee facility for SME loans and the programme’s equity facility will also stimulate the supply of venture capital, with a particular focus on the expansion and growth phase of SMEs. Equity financing, an important option for high-growth young enterprises, will also be stimulated.