Following the Workshop on Crowdfunding organized in June 2013, attended by Guillaume Prache of EuroFinUse, the European Commission launched a consultation inviting stakeholders to share their views about Crowdfunding. This emerging alternative form of financing removes the middleman by pooling small amounts of capital from a large number of individuals and putting these investors in direct contact with the people or organisations in order to finance their business venture or support efforts initiated by these people. Crowdfunding has the potential to increase entrepreneurship by expanding the pool of investors from whom funds can be raised beyond the traditional circle of owners, relatives and venture capitalists.
Since the financial crisis the use of Crowdfunding has become increasingly popular and more and more wide-spread, as lending activities by banks have slowed down and access to finance in general has become more difficult. With view on this trend, the EC launched this consultation to explore how EU intervention, including a range of soft-law measures, could promote Crowdfunding in Europe.
EuroFinUse welcomes the EC consultation on this very important emerging trend in financial services. During the workshop EuroFinUse had the opportunity to mention the fact that financial services users, savers and retail investors are embracing the emergence of Crowdfunding, which could dramatically improve the delivery of retail financial services, provided the EU regulators find an adequate user protection framework.
Read our position paper on Crowdfunding here.
Read the EC press release here.