Capital markets union and growth prospects for small and medium-sized enterprises

Abstract

The capital markets union is expected, among other effects, to free financial resources for small and medium- sized enterprises (SMEs), directly and indirectly improving their access to credit and capital markets. It foresees measures specifically targeted to SMEs, like reducing information barriers and developing specialized segments of capital markets. More generally, all areas of intervention envisaged by the Action Plan of the European Commission are expected to reduce the distance between SMEs and capital markets within the European Union. The idea is that an integrated, larger, and pan- European capital market will be more efficient both in terms of better risk allocation and lower operating costs, will be more resilient to shocks, and will allow for deeper and broader European markets, respectively improving the intensive and the extensive margins of financial markets but also of the real economy.