KfW-EIF Securitisation conference

KfW Bankengruppe and European Investment Fund (EIF) jointly organised and hosted a conference to provide information about securitisation products in the European market because knowledge on the subject is not widespread. The conference's aim was to consider the impact of securitisation finance instruments on improving European SMEs' access to finance and to present securitisation techniques. Dr. Dieter Glüder, Head of Securitisation at KfW Bankengruppe, chaired the conference.

Entitled Securitisation and Access to Finance for European SMEs: too small a market?, the conference was held on 2nd June 2005 in Brussels. It provided a forum for representatives from commercial banks, the European Commission (EC), the European Parliament, investment banks, financial consultants and the business community to examine a range of issues current in the European securitisation market. Some eighty delegates attended the conference to listen to high-profile speakers from Merrill Lynch, GBRW Limited, Mercer Oliver Wyman, amongst others. Heinz Zourek, Deputy Director of the EC's DG Enterprise, opened the workshop with some encouraging news about the European Union's potential involvement in supporting securitisation in the future. The event also provided the opportunity to present the findings of an independent study on the Impact and use of ABS on SME Finance, that was commissioned by DG Enterprise and carried out by GBRW Limited. Francis Carpenter, Chief Executive of EIF gave the conference's keynote speech.

The purpose of the conference was to distinguish the key characteristics of the SME securitisation market and its main players and to encourage discussion about the effectiveness of securitisation in improving access to finance for SMEs. KfW Bankengruppe plays a leading role in the field of securitisation and is a long-standing partner of EIF in this market segment, also operating outside of Germany. Because of its outstanding role, participants received KfW's views on current and future market trends with great interest, and notably, as concerns the impact of Basel II (e.g. increased securitisation of mezzanine financings).

EIF is actively involved in securitisation transactions whereby it provides a guarantee to enhance the credit quality of securities backed by a portfolio of SME loans, thus extending access to finance for a large number of SMEs via a single securitisation deal. This is fully in line with EIF's mission as an EU financial institution specialised in SME finance.

Alessandro Tappi, Head of Guarantees and Securitisation at EIF, presented case studies of EIF's securitisation transactions. He explained EIF's role in spreading best market practice in the field of SME securitisation and facilitating a better understanding of this sector by stakeholders that include national authorities and the EC.

Further information can be found in KfW's conference report: