Using open-end mutual funds resources to finance SMEs: the potential market share of ELTIFs

The Italian asset management sector is going through a rather favorable moment, and open-end mutual funds Asset Under Management has reached a record level of 818 billion Euro. The increasing demand of open-end mutual funds by retail investors has been pushed by the search of more interesting returns in a scenario of mostly zero/negative interest rates and by the decreasing dependence of commercial banks on funding in the form of bonds. But, how much of these financial resources are used by mutual funds to finance SMEs? This topic should be of great interest for researchers and Authorities, especially in a period of credit-crunch and at the dawn of the birth of a new investment vehicle, ELTIFs, specifically created to stimulate equity and debt investing in SMEs.