Written by Ioannis Zachariadis (2nd edition, updated on 9.4.2018),

Financial growth
© andranik123 / Fotolia

Making it easier for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to access financing through public markets lies at the heart of the capital markets union – the plan to mobilise capital in Europe. Among the various reasons for going ahead with this union is the fact that existing requirements and listing costs in both regulated and multilateral trading venues continue to be disproportionate to the size and level of sophistication of SMEs. To further respond to this situation, the Commission has proposed adopting a regulation to address the administrative burden placed on SMEs when listing or issuing equity and bonds, with the aim to increase liquidity on SME growth markets. The latter are a new category of multilateral trading facilities, which was established under the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive II. To this end, the proposal provides for targeted amendments to two key pieces of financial services legislation, namely the Market Abuse Regulation (MAR) and the Prospectus Regulation. Following interinstitutional negotiations the co-legislators reached a provisional agreement on the proposal on 6 March 2019, and this is due to be voted in Parliament during the April II plenary session.

Proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Regulations (EU) No 596/2014 and (EU) 2017/1129 as regards the promotion of the use of SME growth markets
Committee responsible: Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON) COM(2018) 331
24.5.2018
Rapporteur: Anne Sander (EPP, France) 2018/0165(COD)
Shadow rapporteurs: Neena Gill (S&D, UK);
Kay Swinburne (ECR, UK);
Ramon Tremosa i Balcells (ALDE, Spain);
Paloma Lopez Bermejo (GUE/NGL, Spain);
Philippe Lamberts (Greens, Belgium)		 Ordinary legislative procedure (COD) (Parliament and Council on equal footing – formerly ‘co-decision’)
Next steps expected: First-reading vote in plenary

voted in Plenary