At the same time, some measures recently introduced at the national level have also supported the availability of bank financing to SMEs. Specifically, the regulatory definition of an SME has been significantly widened, bringing it in line with that predominating at the European level and so extending the benefits of the lower capital requirements associated with loans to such firms. As a result of the conjunction of the previous developments, most quantitative and qualitative indicators point to a higher dynamism in credit flows in Spain which is linked both to supply and demand factors. For instance, data from the Central Credit Register show an upward trend in the number of credit transactions with non-financial corporations which has been driven by an increase in both loan applications and their approval rates. This evidence is moreover consistent with the results of the survey on the access to finance of firms conducted by the ECB on the basis of a sample of European companies. In particular, since the end of 2013, Spanish SMEs have reported an improvement in their perception of access to credit, a signal which is consistent with that from the Bank Lending Survey. 4. Policy considerations on SME’s financing  Allow me to say now a few words on policy considerations regarding the specific case of small firms’ financing. Undoubtedly, the crisis has been a painful reminder for us that the access of SMEs to finance may deteriorate suddenly and sharply in periods of high uncertainty.
Spain has recently introduced various reforms to improve the effectiveness of bankruptcy procedures, though it is still too early to appreciate in full what additional reforms are needed to further improve those procedures. At the European level, I also welcome the Action Plan on Building a Capital Markets Union recently approved by the European Commission. This project envisages some measures to overcome information barriers that could inhibit SME lending. That includes, following the Spanish example, the strengthening of the feedback given by banks declining SME applications and the promotion of systems facilitating the availability for investors of comprehensive information on SMEs. Moreover, the Action Plan also foresees actions to reactivate securitisations markets. Let me stress the importance of this specific set of measures. For smaller firms, for which direct access to markets is not feasible due to problems of scale, bank credit will remain the predominant financing source. Therefore, an adequate availability of funds for SMEs requires banks to have sufficient means and capacity to properly conduct their intermediation activity. In that regard, the development of the securitisation markets seems a promising avenue to facilitate credit risk management by banks and, therefore, to support lending. Indeed, securitisation markets activity was seriously impaired after the subprime crisis due to the stigma attached to any kind of asset-backed securities, and the lack of recognition by investors and regulators of the specific quality of each product.