Making a difference: German SMEs and their financing environment March 2013 Head of Economic & European Policy
Agenda 1 Definition and importance of SMEs 2 German banking landscape 3 Financing of SMEs 1
Definition of SMEs the quantitative approach 2
The pyramid of the German corporate landscape 71% of enterprises with turnover of less than EUR 250,000 89% with turnover of less than EUR 1 m Companies grow into higher turnover segments Within the SME definition but also outgrowing the medium-sized bracket Germany has a substantially higher number of larger medium-sized companies than the EU average (17% vs 8%) 3
German Mittelstand - the qualitative approach Mittelstand has a strong qualitative dimension which combines hard figures with a certain business philosophy h Owned and predominantly managed by a family Thinking in generations rather than quarterly results Rooted in the region but with global ambitions Almost all SMEs are family businesses but not all family businesses are SMEs More than 4,000 family businesses with a turnover above EUR 50 m More than 600 industrial family businesses with more than 500 employees Hidden champions the spearhead of the Mittelstand t Market leader in their respective world market 1,307 hidden champions out of 2,734 worldwide are based in Germany Per one million inhabitants Germany accounts for 16 hidden champions, France for 1.1, the US for 1.2 and Japan for 1.7 4
Economic significance of SMEs and family businesses 5
Important role of SMEs in employment 6
Important sectors dominated by Mittelstand companies Manufacturing industry: Turnover by size of companies Share of companies in turnover by size of companies, Germany, 2010, % Mechanical engineering: Turnover by size of companies Share of companies in turnover by size of companies, Germany, 2010, % 38,4 34,5 27,1 22,5 < 50 m 50-250 m > 250 m Source: Destatis 59,9 17,5 Metal products: Turnover by size of companies Share of companies in turnover by size of companies, Germany, 2010, % 16,2 Source: Destatis < 50 m 50-250 m > 250 m 24,2 59,6 < 50 m 50-250 m > 250 m Source: Destatis 7
European comparison does not show the whole picture Important role of SMEs in manufacturing SMEs' share of total employment/value added in manufacturing, 2012*, % 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 IT ES NL UK FR DE Employment Value added * Estimates Sources: European Commission, 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 Manufacturing as field of activity for SMEs Manufacturing SMEs' share of all SMEs' employment/value added, 2012*, % 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 IT DE FR ES UK NL Employment Value added GDP share of manufactoring * Estimates Sources: European Commission, 8
Highly profitable family businesses due to the specific strength of the German Mittelstand Family businesses, average 2008-2011 2011 % 2011* 2010 2009 1,9 3,3 32 3,2 15,1 19,4 20,5 23,7 There eeis no osingle ge key tot the success of German SMEs... Reflects not least the strength of the overall German economy Favourable economic policy environment following large-scale reforms in tax policy and labour market regulation in the last decade... but a complex bundle of aspects, partly shaped over centuries 2008 #1: Innovation and skills 2,8 #2: Fierce competition and high 0 5 10 15 20 25 productivity Returns on equity Profit / turnover ratios #3: Expansion into foreign markets Source: IfM Bonn 9
#1: Innovation and skills: German SMEs lead most EU peers 10
#1: Innovation and skills: Cluster and joint efforts support technology lead Importance of cooperation between supplier and customer %, n = 1,002 Transfer of know how, qualification of employees 70,7 21,2 8,1 Enhancements of products 68,1 23,5 8,4 Optimising internal processes 67,9 22,3 9,8 Expansion of supply portfolio 64 30,4 5,6 Joint R&D 61,6 26,4 12 Tapping new markets 58,1 26,7 15,2 Source: ZEW; DIW 0 50 100 Source: IfM Important Neutral Less important 11
#2: Fierce competition to spur productivity German companies self-confident fid 12
#3: Expanding into foreign markets: Strong cross-border activities iti even by SMEs Export share % of turnover Export obstacles for SMEs % 1-19 20-99 33 53 25 20 18 14 12 7 6 13 Other reasons Lack of knowledge of foreign markets Numb ber of employees 100-249 250-499 17 14 18 14 25 26 24 17 21 24 Capital constraints No problems 500+ 8 10 22 23 36 Import duties 0% 1-10% 11-30% 31-50% 51% and more Source: EU Source: Federal Statistical Office 13
Agenda 1 Definition and importance of SMEs 2 German banking landscape 3 Financing of SMEs 14
The German banking sector: a three-pillar system Commercial banks Cooperative banks Public banks Owners Private investors Depositors Municipalities Major bank types Large banks, small and medium-sized private banks, branches of foreign banks Small and mediumsized cooperative banks (+ giro institutions) Savings banks (+ Landesbanks and development banks) Main customers Corporate and institutional clients, SMEs, householdsh SMEs and households Geographic scope National and international Regional Principle Business objectives Customer value, shareholder value Customer value, support of local communities (culture, sports and social affairs) Deposit protection Deposit insurance Institutional guarantee Availability of state guarantees Not available Public guarantee, for LBs limited until 2015 15
Balance sheet structure (1): Deposit vs capital market funding Balance sheet composition - liabilities 2002 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% Balance sheet composition - liabilities 2012 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% 0% Equity capital Deposits from German companies and households Interbank loans Debt securities Other liabilities Sources: Bundesbank, Equity capital Deposits from German companies and households Interbank loans Debt securities Derivatives Other liabilities Sources: Bundesbank, DB Resarch 16
Who gets savers money? Pi Private-sector t deposits market shares Deposits from German companies and households, 2002 Market shares Deposits from German companies and households, 2012 Market shares Commercial banks Cooperative p banks Landesbanks Savings banks Development p banks Other Commercial banks Cooperative banks Landesbanks Savings banks Development banks Other Sources: Bundesbank, Sources: Bundesbank, 17
Balance sheet structure (2): Evidence for different business models Balance sheet composition - assets 2002 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Balance sheet composition - assets 2012 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Central bank deposits Loans to German households Loans to German companies and self-employed Loans to banks Debt securities Other assets Sources: Bundesbank, Central bank deposits Loans to German households Loans to German companies and self-employed Loans to banks Debt securities Derivatives Other assets Sources: Bundesbank, 18
Who provides the loans? Corporate lending market shares Lending to German companies and self-employed, 2002 Market shares Lending to German companies and self-employed, 2012 Market shares Commercial banks Savings banks Commercial banks Savings banks Cooperative banks Development banks Cooperative banks Development banks Landesbanks Other Landesbanks Other Sources: Bundesbank, Sources: Bundesbank, 19
Loan tenors: Commercial banks less long-term Loans to German companies and households by maturity, 2002 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% Loans to German companies and households by maturity, 2012 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% 0% Loans to companies and self-employed, short-term Loans to households, short-term Loans to companies and self-employed, medium-term Loans to households, medium-term Loans to companies and self-employed, employed, long-term Loans to households, long-term Sources: Bundesbank, Loans to companies and self-employed, short-term Loans to households, short-term Loans to companies and self-employed, medium-term Loans to households, medium-term Loans to companies and self-employed employed, long-term Loans to households, long-term Sources: Bundesbank, 20
Broad promotional funding landscape Economic policy goals Financing programmes by Germany and EU Corporate targets Sustainability (energy, environment) Regional development Fostering jobs Economic growth Specific corporate promotion Attractive refinancing loans Public guarantees / liability exemptions Own capital / mezzanine Business start-ups Subsidies Expansion Innovation Modernisation Growth Cost control Diversification of funding Corporate targets 21
Win-win situation for banks and corporate clients: On-lending by federal and state promotion banks Better Refinancing loan Risk sharing Mezzanine / Private equity Cash grants Co orporate clien nt Better loan conditions Better loan conditions Strengthening of own capital basis SME generally below Increase in loan investment grade volume Guarantee from the promotional bank for Interest rate fixed for Commercial bank equity investment 10 years and more bears only 50% of Repayment free start-up period credit risk Strengthening liquidity situation ercial bank Comm Matching maturities Development bank competitor Risk sharing and RWA relief Better rating of the corporate client Cost efficiency 22
Promotion banks increased business during financial crisis Federal promotion bank KfW Newly pledged loans, EUR bn 40 35 30 25 17,6 8,9 9,3 13,4 13,4 Newly pledged loans by all 19 promotion banks should roughly be around EUR 30bn in 2012 The federal promotion bank with its country-wide business acts to a certain extent as a backstop in case of overall lending problems In 2009, the KfW put out a temporary 20 credit programme to prevent a too strong impact of the financial crisis on corporate 15 28,5 10 23,8 24,1 22 17 long-term investments t 5 0 Source: KfW 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 Corporate loans Export and project financing Acknowledging the serious re-financing and funding problems of commercial banks Targeting companies of up to EUR 500m turnover Risk-sharing with commercial banks up to 90% 23
Agenda 1 Definition and importance of SMEs 2 German banking landscape 3 Financing of SMEs 24
Long-term shifts in SME financing German SMEs boosting their capital ratios Equity capital as % of total assets 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 06 07 08 09 10 Small and medium-size public firms Small and medium-size private firms Large public firms Large private firms Note: Additional industries included from 2006 on. Sources: Bundesbank, SMEs becoming less reliant on bank loans Liabilities vis-à-vis banks as % of total assets 50 45 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 06 07 08 09 10 Small and medium-size public firms Small and medium-size private firms Large public firms Large private firms Note: Additional industries included from 2006 on. Sources: Bundesbank, 25
with own resources playing the dominant role in financing i investments t All SMEs Less than 5 employees 50-250 employees 11 8 8 7 8 6 12 12 13 11 13 15 14 17 6 4 6 6 6 8 8 5 9 5 10 9 10 6 9 7 11 13 11 16 14 13 43 44 48 50 48 54 43 44 55 57 47 59 49 47 51 52 56 55 31 36 32 30 31 29 26 42 33 32 38 30 30 31 28 26 22 24 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011, in % of overall-financing 26
Capital market instruments: Still reserved to the bigger players Only limited access to capital markets High fix costs of bond issuance; only larger financing volumes appear to be adequate in terms of market liquidity (above EUR 200 m) Newly developed segment of Mittelstand bonds (volume EUR 1.2 bn in 2012) is seen critical in terms of appropriate risk-pricing does not attract professional capital market investors Generally low interest by investors given the higher risk-profile of SMEs Schuldscheindarlehen (corporate bonded loans) as a hybrid debt financing instrument Reluctance of medium-sized companies to tap capital markets 86% of even the larger family businesses rates the significance of capital market instruments as (very) low for their financing Concern over scope of transparency on fiscal issues strategic issues required by the public Concern over interference of capital market investors in the company s business strategy in general and the time-horizon of planning and investment 27
The role of guarantees, collaterals and equity ratios in obtaining a loan Guaranteed loans play a certain role in lending No aggregated information on the extent Risk-sharing by promotion banks usually has a cap of 50% and is limited to smaller loan volumes Companies are generally expected to provide collaterals Enhances creditworthiness and risk profile Improves credit conditions i as bank has to allocate less RWAs Regulatory capital requirements explicitly account for the use of collaterals Share of collateralised loans in new lending ranges between 15% and 26% depending on loan volume and tenor Certain trend observed to focus more on equity base Valuation of collaterals difficult and time-consuming Liquidation of collaterals might be a hard process At least for medium-sized companies stronger focus on equity base and future cash-flows to service and repay the loan 28
The regulators view on SME financing Basel III keeps the SME package from 2004 In the standard approach SME loans (*) are treated like retail loans: 75% risk weighting instead of 100% Internal Ratings-based Approach (IRB) Possibility to assign SME loans to retail business In addition size factor : Lower capital requirement for loans > EUR 1 m if company s turnover is less than EUR 50 m Real estate loans, instead of 100% Risk weighting 50% if collateralised with commercial property Risk weighting 35% if collateralised with residential property EBA in 2012 analysed the appropriateness of the current RWs for Retail SME lending (mandated by EU Commission) Scenarios on reduction of RWs and increase of Retail threshold; discussion of other regulatory measures for better access to finance of SMEs Impact on stability and soundness of the banking sector (*) () Max turnover of EUR 50 m; max credit volume EUR 1 m 29
Better equity base and new German insolvency law mitigates t de facto insolvencies i GDP growth and insolvencies '000 6,0 4,0 2,0 0,0-2,0-4,0-6,0 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 Insolvencies, right Sources: Creditreform and own calculations GDP growth, left 45 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 The younger and the smaller a firm is, the more it is exposed to the risk of insolvency German insolvency law mitigates in court going concern restructuring (approach comparable to Chapter 11 in the USA) Restructuring initiated by leading bank and/ or main creditor with establishing a Steering Committee (possibly involving other stakeholders as well) Larger German banks have specialised restructuring departments to bundle their own expertise Restructuring concept from external experts, fresh money can only be provided if there is a positive outlook for the firm No formal or written guidelines for restructuring but usually broad consensus to support reasonable restructuring t efforts 30
Alternative financing sources (1): Pi Private equity activity it in Germany below peers Euro debt crisis takes toll Germany is home to about 272 Total private equity investment, % GDP PE firms with combined assets Great Britain under management of EUR 32 bn (2011) United States South Korea Germany Japan China 0 1 2 3 4 5 2011 2012 Figures include total deal value (debt & equity) per country of target or seller. Include pending and completed deals. As of Feb. 22, 2013 Sources:, Bloomberg, IMF Buyouts: 80 (EUR 15 bn) Venture: 145 (EUR 12 bn) Activity it in Germany is below many European / global peers Fewer institutional investors in PE, such as pension funds Reluctance among potential targets to hand over control to financial investor Strong role of PE firms domiciled outside of Germany (often UK) 31
Alternative financing sources (2): Venture capital with lack of scale in Germany Not exactly Silicon Valley Venture capital in Germany (EUR m), per quarter (equity share only) 350 300 250 200 150 100 50 0 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 Sources:, BVK Important bridge between ideas and commercially successful innovation Around 566 firms in Germany received VC funding in Q1-Q3 2012 (EUR 391 m) Most investments flow into communications (38%), computer electronics (15%), life sciences (19%) VC investments in Silicon Valley are 11x larger per firm / deal Role of promotion banks very important to compensate for shortfall of VC (and PE) Various programmes for start-ups and smaller innovative firms Combined efforts by politics, promotion banks and larger companies: Equity Fund for High- Tech Start-ups European Investment Fund encourages lending by commercial c banks by providing po ga 50% risk guarantee 32
Private equity requires advanced upstream and downstream financial i development (3) Venture capital requires highly effective stock markets R&D elasticity 07 0,7 0,6 0,5 0,4 0,3 Japan (2006) Germany France Scandinavia Great Britian USA R² = 0,70 0,2 0,00 0,05 0,10 0,15 0,20 Venture capital investments (% of GDP, avg. 2005-2009 Private equity and venture capital are part of a complex financial environment Buyouts need a deep well of debt financing, including leveraged and structured finance VC investments are often preceded by Angel financing and followed by an IPO Traditional bank loans often play a crucial role in the financing of the initial steps of a start-up Sources:, JRC, OECD, PwC, 2011 The R&D elasticity illustrates the premium equity investors are willing to pay for R&D-intensive firms. It depends inter alia on the degree of equity market development (see Meyer and Ehmer, 2011) 33
Conclusions German SMEs show higher competitiveness and stronger crisis resilience because they are on average highly: Innovation-driven while retaining a focus on traditional manufacturing Focussing on harnessing networks and industrial clusters while being committed to fierce competition Expanding into foreign markets while keeping their regional roots In EU comparison access to finance is less of a barrier Depending on size and financing needs SMEs can choose between various banking groups providing long-term loans and financial solutions Promotion banks facilitate credit supply but do not tolerate unprofitable investments or a weak business model SMEs have a high and still increasing own capital ratio not least to remain less dependent on bank lending (EU) regulators discuss more favourable treatment for SME portfolios but there is a trade-off with a sound and risk-oriented i banking sector 34
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