A European Parliament committee has adopted a report that MEP Alfred Sant worked on which makes proposals for small and medium-sized enterprises to get better access to finance.
The report on the Capital Markets Union, titled 'Further development of the Capital Markets Union: improving access to capital market finance, in particular by SMEs, and further enabling retail investor participation’, was adopted by a large majority by the parliament’s Economic and Monetary Affairs committee.
Sant serves as rapporteur in the committee for the S&D group.
While bank loans are used for short-term financing, capital markets are used to raise money for the longer term.
The report is a first step towards the European Commission presenting a legislative proposal to help SMEs get better financing instead of having to rely on bank loans only.
The Capital Markets Union aims to make it easier for EU companies to get the money they need from individual and institutional investors across the single European market. A strong Capital Markets Union is also necessary to complement the Banking Union and to strengthen the Economic and Monetary Union and the international role of the euro.
All the compromises Sant negotiated with other political groups, as well as his own amendments to the report, were adopted in the final version.
These included amendments about using Fintech firms to allow SMEs to operate through Initial Coin Offerings and crowdfunding ventures, about making retail investors a key part of the sustainable finance agenda and amendments to emphasise the importance of a regulatory environment to mitigate risks and protect consumers.
In a statement on Saturday, Sant said that he had met with stakeholders remotely over the past months, including the Federation of European Securities Exchange, Insurance Europe, Better Finance, Markets4Europe and the International Swaps and Derivatives Association.
The draft version of the report was first presented in June and is expected to be voted upon in plenary in October.