Osborne Clarke co-edits ECN Crowdfunding Review 2017

The report finds there is a lack of European level crowd funding regulation and general EU regulations, especially in the cross-border finance sector, are likely to be unclear. Alternative sources of finance are a growing market, but continue to be a challenge for the financial industry.

Crowdfunding has become an important finance instrument for companies, and the review presents the current crowdfunding regulations and regulatory standards in the EU-28 market, the USA, Israel and Switzerland. It also provides a special focus on the challenges of cross-border activities of crowdfunding platforms as well as projects / companies that aim to be financed via crowd funding.

Along with German team – led by Tanja Aschenbeck-Florange, and Thorge Drefke, legal experts across Osborne Clarke’s UK, Netherlands, French, Italian and Spanish offices contributed to the study.

Lead Partner Tanja Aschenbeck-Florange commented:

“The report gives an overview of the tensions between improved access to financial resources and regulatory goals. The lack of harmonisation of a European cross-border regulation harms the financing options and the access to capital for start-ups and SME.”

Tanja Aschenbeck-Florange advises companies, banks and payment providers, particularly on crowdfunding, fund regulation, payment transaction and other employment law. Along with European Crowdfunding Network she has initiated the first two editions of the Europe-wide study on the treatment of crowd funding across Europe under financial supervisory law in 2013 and 2014 and repeatedly presented it to the public and other policy makers, such as the EU Commission.

The ECN Crowdfunding Review 2017 can be downloaded here or on the ECN website.