, including venture capital, equity crowdfunding and specialised platforms for public listing of smes ; ( 2 ) hybrid instruments, such as convertible bonds and mezzanine finance, typically involving debt instruments that, subject to a trigger, can be converted to equity ; ( 3 ) non - bank debt financing, such as corporate bonds, securitised debt and covered bonds. with the exception of corporate bonds, market - based financing is virtually non - existent in greece for small and medium - sized enterprises, as shown by the present iobe study, and is also very limited at european level. in the eu, market - based financing of small and mediumsized enterprises accounts for less than 15 % of their total financing, and is very costly. a key problem is that investors lack information on small and medium - sized enterprises. in this regard, around 25 % of all companies and around 75 % of owner - managed companies in europe do not have a credit score, according to the european commission ’ s green paper on building a capital markets union. the extent of the problem across the eu led the european commission, in 2015, to draw up and launch an ambitious plan for building a single eu - wide capital market by 2019. the plan aims to improve access to financing for all businesses across europe, increase and diversify the sources of funding, and make markets work more effectively and efficiently, by removing obstacles that make investor and business access to capital markets harder and costlier. 3 / 6 bis central bankers'speeches well - developed capital markets deliver considerable benefits to market participants and economic activity in general. first, they enable businesses to diversify their financing sources, thereby reducing their reliance on bank credit, and create an environment that is more resilient to shocks. second, they help to improve the allocation of capital in the economy and risk sharing, by offering investors a broader array of options and enabling them to make their investment decisions in line with their risk appetites and therefore finance even businesses that would have been seen, by banks, as too risky to lend to. third, equity financing in particular boosts investment without necessarily increasing private debt in the economy. progress towards the creation of a capital markets union has been steady, but rather slow. of the eight legislative proposals submitted by the european commission before early march 2018, three have been approved so far by the european parliament and the council and concern : simple, transparent and standardised securitisation as an additional source of financing in particular for small

to this end, economic policy must from now on focus on the following areas : 1. speed up the implementation of reforms and privatisations. such actions foster competitiveness in goods and services markets, improve the business environment and help to attract domestic and foreign investment. 2. improve the quality of institutions and ensure their proper functioning and independence. with regard to independent authorities, it is important to strengthen their administrative and financial autonomy, ensure respect for their independence and increase their accountability towards parliament. well - functioning institutions improve structural competitiveness and promote economic growth, as they affect incentives for individuals and businesses to invest in physical and human capital, technology and the organisation of production. 3. tackle the problem of non - performing loans ( and strategic defaulters ), which prevents the banking system from financing economic growth. banks should utilise all the available toolbox to reduce troubled assets, and in particular speed up the sale of npls. particular emphasis should also be placed on the restructuring of viable companies and the liquidation of non - viable ones. this will release resources to support new and existing sound investment and business initiatives, thereby supporting the economic recovery. 4. adopt a growth - friendly fiscal policy mix. 5. gradual relaxation of the capital controls in tandem with the return of confidence. 6 / 7 bis central bankers'speeches 6. address the public debt overhang. decisive and concrete actions are needed to ensure the sustainability of greek public debt in line with the eurogroup decisions of june 2017. the bank of greece has put forward a specific mild debt reprofiling proposal, which involves only a negligible cost for greece ’ s partners and consists in extending the weighted average maturity of interest payments on efsf loans by at least 8. 5 years. last but not least, in order for greece to tap the financial markets on sustainable terms after the end of the current programme in august 2018, t he greek authorities must close the 4th ( and last ) review on time, with a view to significantly improving the credit rating of the country. at the same time, our european partners, apart from specifying in more detail the medium - term debt reprofiling measures, which would enable the refinancing of public debt from the markets on sustainable terms, should, in close cooperation with the greek authorities, provide more clarity on the post - programme support for the greek economy. these actions will improve the investment climate, attract domestic and foreign direct investment and facilitate the return to financial normality