aws is a member of European networks
Austria Wirtschaftsservice Gesellschaft mbH (aws) cooperates actively with Europe's promotional banks and financial institutions with the aim
- to exchange experience and know-how in the financial and promotional sector,
- to deepen cooperation with (financial) institutions of the European Union.
AECM - European Association of Guarantee Institutions
AECM has 48 member organizations operating in 29 European countries (23 EU countries plus Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Serbia, Russia and Turkey). Its members are mutual, private sector guarantee schemes as well as public institutions, which are either guarantee funds or Development banks with a guarantee division. They all have in common the mission of providing loan guarantees for SMEs who have an economically sound project but cannot provide sufficient bankable collateral.
AECM pursues the following three main aims:
Political Representation
AECM represents the political interest of its member organisations both towards the European Institutions, such as the European Commission, the European Parliament and Council, as well as towards other, multilateral bodies, among which the European Investment Bank (EIB), the European Investment Fund (EIF), the Bank for International Settlement (BIS), the World Bank, etc. It deals primarily with issues related to state aid regulation relevant for guarantee schemes within the internal market, to European support programmes and to prudential supervision. It has also dealt with the policy response to the financial crisis.
Exchange of best practices
AECM serves as platform for exchange of best practices on a variety of operational issues. For this purpose, AECM has set up working groups and organises annual seminars, operational training sessions as well as specific ad-hoc events on selected issues.
Promotion of guarantee instruments
AECM undertakes surveys on the guarantee sector, provides relevant technical information, statistics, newsletters as well as other publications to promote the guarantee instrument. It takes part as a sector representative in events both in Europe as well as beyond.
NEFI - Network of European Financial Institutions for SMEs
The Network of European Financial Institutions for Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (NEFI), which was founded in 1999, consists currently of 21 financial institutions from 21 European Union member states. In 2018, NEFI members actively supported and financed approximately 235 000 SMEs all over Europe with more than € 72,5 billion of financing mainly in the form of loans and guarantees.
NEFI is currently concentrating on the following topics:
Mutual Exchange
Maintain a permanent and constructive dialogue on SME financing issues with the European Union institutions and with other SME-related European associations and federations.
Knowledge Transfer
Provide expertise and advice for the EU and its financial institutions in the planning and implementation of EU-wide promotional and financing schemes.
Access to Finance
Facilitate the access of SME clients to both European and national financing schemes
Cooperation & Learning
Foster our mutual cooperation and learning from each other as well as the cooperation with European (financial) institutions for the benefit of SMEs and their financing.