Results of EU consultation on bank financing are out

Following up on an earlier post, the EC now published the answers on its consultation on long term finance.

Thought the topic is hot, only 87 responses were submitted*, of which only two by academics. One by Martin Hellwig, the other by Martien Lubberink.

The low public participation by academics is depressing, given that they called for higher capital requirements not so long ago. See here and here for letters to the FT editor.

Interestingly, support for the idea that capital requirements affect lending, in particular to SMEs, is weak. The Bank of England and the Dutch central bank (DNB) point to other factors, such as high risk and information asymmetries that affects SME lending.

A very interesting submission is the one of the ECB, their contribution stands out in terms of breath and  comprehensiveness.

See here the summary doc.

See here the summary spreadsheet.

* Some submitters may have opted to not have their submissions disclosed. The 87 are the ones of which the submitter opted for having the response published.