Still, even in times of sound economic growth, some SMEs will always be unsuccessful in obtaining the financing they have applied for, for reasons such as insufficient business plans. However, there seems to be a clear relationship between the size and age of a firm and its success in applying for a loan. The larger and older the firms were, the more successful they were in obtaining a loan. Indeed, about twice as many applications for bank loans by SMEs as those by large firms were rejected. Availability of external financing Firms that had an external financing need and therefore had applied for a loan in the first half of 2009 were rather sceptical in their assessment of the availability of external financing (see Chart 9). Large firms were somewhat more negative in their assessment than SMEs. This is in line with the evidence from the bank lending survey that the tightening of credit standards was more pronounced for large firms than for SMEs. As already mentioned, this may come as a surprise, as SMEs are generally perceived to be affected more than large firms by a deterioration in access to finance. BIS Review 129/2009  5  The availability of bank loans tends to be related to the general economic situation, which affects the financial situation of the individual firm.
From this perspective, the standardisation of data and the draft Non-Financial Reporting Directive - which will be discussed this year - for adoption hopefully next year, under the French Presidency - will be the battle to be fought in 2021. And it would be unacceptable - at a time when progress on climate change is moving in the right direction and Europe has won the first round of climate-related values - for Europe to lose the second round, i.e. that of measuring these values using standards and published data. 2.3 Incorporate climate risk, into order to reduce it in all of our operations and in the economy The third part of our triptych, the very core of our activity, and the most powerful: reducing our climate risk in concrete terms, through our asset purchase and  Page 6 sur 8 collateral policies. This ambition requires great dexterity; but it is rooted in a conviction: we have in our hands the tools to move forward, concretely, strongly. I propose to start decarbonising the ECB's balance sheet in a pragmatic, gradual and targeted manner for all corporate assets, whether they are held on the central bank's balance sheet (purchases) or taken as collateral, without including government securities. There are at least two arguments for such a priority: 1/ it is very difficult to differentiate between the climate policies of the euro area countries. 2/ Conversely, non-financial corporations are clearly identified as players whose activities are the most carbon intensive.