Publication of DG Regio study: Ex post evaluation of financial instruments for enterprises

The final report of the ex post evaluation of financial instruments for enterprises (Work Package 3), carried out by EPRC, Metis GmbH and t33 srl for Dg Regio, has now been published on DG Regio website. In the 2007-13 programme period, financial instruments were a new approach to delivering Cohesion policy for many EU Member States. Their use created significant challenges and demanded considerable administrative capacity. The rationale for their increased use in Cohesion policy includes the potential for greater sustainability and cost-effectiveness; among the case study OPs covered by the study, FIs were generally used to facilitate access to finance for SMEs. This became an even more important motivation during the financial crisis. The scale of FIs varies between countries as does the share which has reached final recipients. In most countries, FIs were over80 percent invested by the end of 2014, but some very large FIs have been overcapitalised and the EU average was 61 percent. Implementing FIs has proved to be complex, with demands for greater clarity and certainty met through successive changes to the Structural Funds Regulations and guidance, many of which have been consolidated into the 2014-20 regulatory framework. Monitoring systems for FI have been weak, with little hard data on outcomes such as private funding, job creation and innovation, but there is some evidence that FIs increase access to finance and can help develop private markets.