ACCA, Barclays & UEAPME invite you to

Capital Markets Union : delivering new opportunities for SMEs through venture capital

13 July 2016

15.00h-17.00h, followed by a cocktail reception

Press Club, 95 rue Froissart, Brussels

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) represent over 99% of businesses in the EU. They play a critical role in global economic development and are the backbone of the EU economy. It is therefore crucial to support them throughout their life cycle– from seed capital during start up, through to investment during their different states of development, to give them the possibility to grow and innovate.

But – as is increasingly well understood – the limits of the traditional debt financing model for SMEs have been exposed by the financial crisis. Broadly speaking, Europe has been over-reliant on bank financing along and its recovery has been held back as a result.

Complementary sources of financing do of course already exist, there are well established alternative listing venues, crowd-funding or peer to peer lending networks, and a range of other new and emerging options. Changing a long standing culture of sole reliance on bank lending is not a simple process however, it takes time and considerable effort to promote and develop the range of complementary options necessary.

Delivering on its Capital Markets Union commitments is a key priority area for the European Commission in 2016. As part of that programme, it has committed to coming forward with a package of measures to stimulate venture capital in the EU ‘before the summer’.

ACCA, Barclays & UEAPME are delighted to invite you to a roundtable discussion to discuss how to create the right environment for the provision of private capital to SMEs and what role it can play in moving us towards our Capital Markets Union.

Please reply to Cécile Bonino, ACCA’s Head of EU Affairs by 30 June to  cecile.bonino@accaglobal.com

Draft agenda

14.45-15.00h Registrations

15.00h Welcome remarks, Rebecca McNeil, Head of SME lending, Barclays

15.05h Presentation from Sven Gentner,  Head of unit for asset management, DG FISMA, European Commission

15.20h Roundtable moderated by Rosana Mirkovic, Head of Small Business Affairs, ACCA

• Irmfried Schwiman, Deputy Director General, DG GROW
• Dörte Hoppner –  Chief Executive Invest Europe
• Alexander von Preysing, Head of Sales, Deutsche Börse Venture Network, Pre-IPO & Capital Markets
• Candace Johnson, President of the EBAN
• Gerhard Huemer, Director, Economy Policy UEAPME

 16.20h Q&As

16.40h Key note concluding remarks, Othmar Karas, MEP

16.55h Conclusions, Rebecca McNeil, head of SME lending, Barclays

17.00h Cocktail reception