Written Statement - Review of the Availability of Funding for SMEs in Wales

An independent review of the availability of funding for SMEs in Wales

I am today announcing the establishment of an independent review of the availability of funding for SMEs in Wales.  

The review will examine how effectively SMEs in Wales are served by existing sources of funding, and, where particular problems are found, to provide recommendations for action.

The review will:

• Seek to establish the extent to which the High Street Banks are meeting the funding needs of Welsh SMEs; and
• Consider the merits of alternative sources of funding for Welsh SMEs.

I anticipate that there will be important findings from this review for Welsh SMEs and economic policy.  

I am delighted that Professor Dylan Jones-Evans, Director of Enterprise and Innovation at the University of Wales has agreed to undertake the review.   

Professor Jones-Evans will be supported by my Officials and a voluntary advisory panel from academia and business.   The advisory panel will be comprised of Professor Stephen Thomas, Professor of Finance at CASS Business School in City University, London; John Antoniazzi, former partner at Deloitte in Wales; Katy Chamberlain, Chief Executive of Business in Focus; Professor Robin Jarvis, Head of SME Affairs at The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) and Professor of Accounting at  Brunel University; Professor Phil Molyneux, Dean of the College of Business, Law, Education and Social Sciences and Professor of Banking and Finance at Bangor University; Huw Morgan, former Head of Business Banking, HSBC Bank plc; Chris Nott, Chair of the Financial & Professional Services Sector Panel and Managing Partner of Capital Law LLP; and Mark Woolfenden, Managing Director, Afonwen Laundry.

I have asked to receive a report from Professor Jones-Evans in the autumn of 2013.