UEAPME, ACCA and Leaseurope are delighted to invite you to a lunch debate on

From Basel III to alternative sources of funding: Assessing the impact of financial regulation on access to finance for SMEs and the real economy

9 February 2012
12.00pm-14.30pm
14 B rue de la Science, 1040 Brussels

The international framework for bank capital and liquidity - known as Basel III- and its European version, incorporated in the Capital Requirements Package – known as CRDIV - aim to increase the resilience of the financial system by strengthening the regulation, supervision and risk management of the banking sector.

The need for a new framework is commonly accepted by all. However, many stakeholders, including regulators, the banking industry, as well as small businesses and their advisors, have warned that requiring banks to hold more capital under proposed rules is likely to have a disproportionately negative impact on small and medium sized enterprises' (SMEs) access to finance, even though this sector had little to do with the causes of the financial crisis. In Europe, given our SMEs' greater dependence on debt, the impact is likely to be even more adverse.

Though it is widely recognised that SMEs are the backbone of the European economy, many of the approximately 20 million SMEs established in Europe often face problems finding money to develop new products, access new markets, finance their research and investment in assets or even for the day to day management of their operations. In the context of the ongoing crisis, and with Europe's SMEs seeking to finance €646bn worth of investment in fixed assets in 2012, one can fear that a further reduction of their access to finance could in the medium term jeopardise the economic recovery of the region, and it is therefore more important than ever to develop alternative sources of funding.

The European Commission, which has made access to finance for SMEs one of its priorities, is working on a series of initiatives and proposals to increase SMEs access to funding from a wider range of sources, for example through facilitating access to venture capital throughout the EU, to equity through the Competitiveveness and Innovation Programme or in raising awareness on micro-credit.

UEAPME, ACCA (The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) and Leaseurope are therefore delighted to invite you to a lunch debate that will seek to assess the real impact of the new capital requirements - especially in conjunction with other measures such as Solvency II- on the real economy and consider the trade-off between safeguarding against future financial crises and protecting the interests of SMEs.

For more information and RSVP by 3 February contact Cecile.bonino@accaglobal.com

Draft agenda

11.45-12. 00pm registration and sandwich lunch  

12. 00 pm Roundtable Moderated by Robin Jarvis, Head of  SMEs Affairs at ACCA and a member of the European Banking Authority (EBA) Banking Stakeholders' Group

- Otmar Karas, MEP rapporteur on the CRDIV tbc

- Erik van der Plaats, policy coordinator banks and conglomerates, DG MARKT

- Santiago Carbó, Professor of Economics at the Department of Economic Theory and History, University of Granada and the Head of Financial Studies of the Spanish Savings Banks Foundation (FUNCAS)

- Gerhard Huemer, Director Economic Policy, UEAPME

- Tilman Lueder, head of unit asset management, DG MARKT

- Jochen Jehmlich, Managing Director, GEFA,Société Générale Equipment Finance, representing Leaseurope

- Chiara de Caro, Secretary General, EBAN

- Doerte Hoeppner, Secretary General, EVCA

- Massimo Baldinato, Cabinet of Commissioner Tajani

13.40pm Q&As

14.20pm Conclusions