SME’sshouldavail ofcrowdfunding

FINE Gael Michael D’Arcy has encouraged small and medium enterprises in Wexford to engage in a Government consultation on crowdfunding, launched by Minister Michael Noonan.

Michael D’Arcy T.D. said: ‘ The consultation is seeking views on crowdfunding in order to understand how best to facilitate the development of crowdfunding in Ireland for the benefit of the economy, while also ensuring adequate protection for small investors and consumers.

‘ The objective is to seek the views of interested parties regarding whether or not a regulatory regime would be appropriate for the crowdfunding sector, particularly given the potential requirements and costs it could impose on the sector.

‘Crowdfunding can be a valuable source of funding for SMEs, either as a complement, or as an alternative, to traditional bank finance.

‘Ensuring that the development of this exciting and innovative form of finance is facilitated for the benefit of the economy, while also ensuring adequate protection for consumers providing funds through crowdfunding platforms is of critical importance.”

‘ This consultation will inform our thinking and will assist in the consideration of whether a regulatory regime would be appropriate for crowdfunding, given that there is no dedicated harmonised regulation for crowdfunding and the existing European financial services legislation was not designed with crowdfunding in mind.

‘ The public consultation was launched last week and is accessible on the Department of Finance website.

‘ The consultation will run for six weeks and the closing date is June 2nd. I encourage SMEs and all other interested stakeholders in Wexford to have their say.’

Crowdfunding is a means by which finance can be raised from a large number of individuals or institutional investors through online platforms and can be used to fund businesses, projects or personal loans.

Crowdfunding is technology based, innovative and continually evolving market-based finance that could help stimulate funding to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) as well as personal lending.

This method also provides consumers and small investors with access to investment opportunities that offer a higher rate of return, at a higher risk, than is generally available from traditional credit institutions.

The closing date for submissions is June 2.