Bank of Spain Governor outlines measures to widen SME financing including expanded ICAS ratings and securitisation initiatives

In remarks to the PIMEC Board of Directors, Bank of Spain Governor José Luis Escrivá set out the Bank’s assessment of Spain’s macroeconomic backdrop and argued that improving access to financing is central to raising the growth profile of Spanish small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which lag their European peers over the business life cycle. The presentation pointed to resilient Spanish growth, easing borrowing costs from their 2023 highs, and lower private-sector leverage, alongside evidence that SMEs remain more constrained than large firms by financing access, regulatory burden, and policy uncertainty. It highlighted that firms with no prior bank debt and microenterprises face higher loan rejection rates (average 2021–23), and that smaller firms score lower on basic financial literacy measures. On funding channels, the Governor noted limited use of securitisation and venture capital in Spain relative to peers, including securitisation placements of 0.4% of GDP in 2024 and venture capital operations of 0.14% of GDP. The Bank’s actions cited included support for SME-focused financial education, work to facilitate access to funding through its in-house credit assessment system (ICAS) by expanding coverage of independent ratings, and participation in a high-level working group on SME financing and the development of a European securitisation platform.