Limited access to finance is still a major concern for many European SMEs, and tighter regulatory capital requirements, as well as the accumulation of non-performing loans, have strongly reduced banks’ capacity to extend new lending. This Q&A section discusses which measures are effective in improving banks’ risk taking capacity and in providing SMEs with alternative financial instrument. Also, this section provides a useful insight into the EIB Group (EIB and EIF) activities in supporting SMEs access to finance.
Helmut Kraemer-Eis
Helmut Kraemer-Eis is Head of EIF’s Research and Market Analysis division. This function was created in 2009 to support EIF’s business development and strategic decision-making processes through applied research and market analyses. Prior to this, Helmut headed EIF’s Guarantees and Securitisation Risk Management for 7 years. He also worked as a senior manager at in SME Loan Securitisation and Business Policy area and in the Economic Research Department at KfW in Germany. Helmut holds a M.A. in Economics from the Friedrich-Wilhelms University, Bonn (Germany) and a PhD from the Friedrich Schiller University, Jena (Germany), where he also worked as research assistant. He authored and co-authored numerous research articles on various economic topics and a book on country risk analysis. Helmut is the editor of EIF’s Working Papers series.