Effects of the New Capital Requirements of Basel III on the Financing of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises in Austria

Due to their very limited access to the capital market bank financing is of outstanding importance for small and medium-sized companies. Often, however, the latter can only barely provide the collateral corresponding to the enhanced capital requirements for financial institutions (Basel III). As a rule their capital base is significantly weaker than that of larger companies. Therefore, small companies are likely to be particularly affected by the anticipated tightening of credit owing to Basel III.