SME Chamber President meets MDB Officials
22 April 2024
Malta Chamber of SMEs President Mr Paul Abela met MDB Chairman Leo Brincat and CEO...
SME Finance Experts Discuss Basel III And Future EC Plans
30 October 2011
Ueapme Working Group on SME Finance met in Brussels this week. Participants agreed on the main policy lines to take on the Capital Requirements Directive, warning that the risk weight for SME retail loans should be reduced right away, rather than after a review of the new directive as suggested by the European Commission.
Our experts also welcomed the agreements to tackle the crisis reached by the European Council and the Euro zone Member States, in particular on bank recapitalisation, as the texts mention the need to maintain the credit flow to the real economy. SME lending must not be affected, all participants demanded.
The Working Group was also updated on the EC plans on SME finance, which are largely in line with our demands for more attention to mezzanine finance and to instruments capable of increasing the SME lending capacity, although the details remain sketchy for the time being.
Finally, participants received updates on State Aid and on the Single Euro Payments Area.
