Malta Business Bureau president George Vella said the 2014-2020 EU programming period should be characterised by greater focus on impact intensiveness of cohesion-funded projects, with significant attention devoted to SME development and support throughout their lifecycle.

“In this regard, financial engineering instruments will become more important vehicles for the delivery of the EU cohesion policy which is also undergoing a transformation in being increasingly aligned as a practical support tool for enabling the attainment of the Europe2020 Strategy targets,” he said.

Mr Vella was speaking during a BusinessEurope workshop on access to finance, presenting the findings of the recent MBB study entitled Market Gaps in Access to Finance. The report put forward recommendations that can be implemented locally, but which can also potentially be reproduced in other EU member states.

Mr Vella, who was accompanied by MBB CEO Joe Tanti, elaborated on the findings of the MBB report, calling on the European Commission to structure new innovative financing products in conjunction with the European Investment Bank.

BusinessEurope organised the business seminar following the publication of a green paper on the long-term financing of the European economy, to discuss how to cope with the negative impact on banks’ ability to lend, and how to develop alternatives to traditional bank finance, in particular for SMEs.

During the panel debate, speakers, including high-profile representatives from the venture capital industry and the issuers business, highlighted the need for EU policy makers to better attune themselves to the credit demand needs of enterprises as they outgrow the ability of their traditional banking partners to service their credit requirements.

At this stage, public listing of SMEs and mid-caps and the facilitation of corporate bond markets and securitisation become a critical aspect for underpinning a sustainable growth-oriented business development model at both enterprise and sector-level, the MBB explained.

On a separate occasion, the MBB was invited by another Brussels-based pan-European organisation, Eurochambres, to present the findings emanating from its report. MBB’s permanent delegate Omar Cutajar and executive Daniel Debono showcased the realities of the Maltese credit market, which is predominantly characterised by traditional bank lending and overdraft facilities.

They highlighted with European Commission officials from DG Enterprise and Industry the successful implementation of the loan-guarantee Jeremie scheme.

They also stressed the need for more innovative financial engineering instruments introduced in Malta to benefit various sizes of SMEs operating in a range of sectors and at different stages of their development lifecycle.

The report can be downloaded from www.mbb.org.mt.

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