Policy and outreach

Foundation of SME Financiers:

Stichting MKB Financiering (Foundation for the financing of small and medium size enterprises) in corporation with the European Center for Alternative Finance (ECAF) is raising awareness for alternative finance and making the sector more professional. Under the direction of Ronald Kleverlaan this organization is working to achieve these goals while balancing the interests of different stakeholders.  

The Foundation originated as an initiative of 10 market parties representing different types of the alternative finance sphere. Over the past six months this core group of businesses including Boozt24, Collin Crowdfund, Dynamic Credit, Fiduciam, Funding Circle, Fund IQ, Lendix, NPEX, Voldaan and Spotcap, working together with the Ministerie van EZK (Ministry of economic affairs), to develop a code of conduct and agreements with trade associations. From this initial stage Stichting MKB Financiering was established expanding its reach accors a number of financiers from the sector. 

Stichting MKB Financiering aims to represent all professional parties and financiers contributing to the financing of small and medium sized enterprises that can and are willing to follow the code of conduct, which includes strong self-regulation and respecting others interests. In the coming months the organisation keep up the dialog between the different stakeholders to maintain a sustainable growth of the sector. 

Network and public awareness

The European Centre for Alternative Finance (ECAF) brings together a network of practitioners, academics, regulators, crowdfunding/P2P associations, policy makers and other stakeholders. ECAF will organize academic and industry conferences and workshops, regular roundtable discussions, and will establish an advisory board of selected key representatives from stakeholder groups. ECAF aims at publishing leading industry reports, organizing events with mayor stakeholders and providing policy recommendations based on solid academic research performed using high-quality data.

Regulation of Fintech

Members of the European Centre for Alternative Finance have contributed to the DNB/AFM InnovationHub to shape the future of Fintech regulation.
Download the letter here

Input for Dutch crowdfunding legislation

The European Centre for Alternative Finance responded to a call for input on future crowdfunding legislation (peer-to-business lending) by the Ministry of Finance.
Download the input document (pdf, in Dutch)

Employee participation provides opportunities for more equal wealth distribution and increased investment

In the report "Making employee ownership work in startups and SMEs", researchers at Utrecht University's European Centre for Alternative Finance (ECAF) describe several options for increasing the use of employee ownership in the Netherlands, including a change in the timing of taxation, a change in the level of taxes and standardization of the valuation of shares. (Newsitem on this report, in Dutch)