It’s finally here. Seven months after the project was launched and after a summer consultation with the industry, the European Commission on September 30 published its Capital Markets Union action plan, aimed at promoting cross-border investment and making it easier for growing companies to obtain funding.

Launching the plan on September 30, Lord Hill, European commissioner for financial services and CMU, said: "I want the Capital Markets Union to help European businesses, and our SMEs in particular, have a wider range of funding sources. I want it to give SMEs more options for investing their money. I want to knock down barriers to make it easier for capital to flow freely across all 28 member states."