MAB a failure, small businesses suffer

Four years and four months after the first company was listed on the MAB -- ironically, the company was the Pocoyó FINISH -- it can already be said with confidence that the new market for financing business ventures has failed in large part because the market attracted few companies and little capital. Only 23 companies have been listed on the MAB, which is far from the 800 that bearish forecasts expected, and it only raised a collective 195 million euros.

This disappointing path compared to its European counterparts combined with general declines across stock markets during the recession do not explain, still, how the MAB did not work out and failed to provide financing for small- and medium-sized companies with cash when they could not get it from the banks. Because the hard reality is that credit has not reached the real economy yet. The banks want high interest rates and down payments for companies that do less than 60 million euros per year.

These requirements leave out 90% of Spanish companies. But the national government is obliged, and has committed, to explore all the means of helping small businesses get loans. The companies now have another alternative through the MARF -- the acronym for a new Alternative Fixed Income Market -- which is an alternative loan source for companies.

The idea is good, but so was the MAB idea. The government should push its reform agenda and quickly approve a new financing law that allows investment funds and capital managers to take chances on small businesses by extending loans. This would show that they can find new life outside of bank loans if they are willing to blaze a new trail.