Sources
Where the content across this section comes from. This is here so the confidence behind a given fact or pattern is traceable, and so gaps in the research are visible rather than papered over.
Froda & partner data
Froda first-party lending/application data
Actual applications, seasonality, loan purpose, ticket size, industry patterns and behavioural differences. The highest-confidence source where sufficient Froda/partner data exists.
Uploaded European SME Insights report
Useful as a broad hypothesis layer for borrowing attitudes, access, alternative finance, digitalisation, sustainability and market differences. Not the primary quantitative dataset.
Uploaded Froda Sweden/Denmark dashboards
First-party patterns for seasonality, sector purposes, ticket-size ranges and campaign timing. Strong where sample size is sufficient, but not directly transferable to the rest of Europe.
Uploaded France/Shine dashboards
Eurostat-driven French sector activity, fiscal calendars, search intent, sentiment and clearly labelled estimates. A good blueprint for how to localise the framework.
EU-wide research
ECB SAFE, Survey on the Access to Finance of Enterprises
Probably the most useful Europe-wide source for SME financing. Covers financing needs, availability, bank conditions, firm size, sector and country. Now run quarterly.
ECB Bank Lending Survey
Adds the bank perspective: credit standards, loan demand, tightening/easing, reasons behind changes, and sector risk. Conducted four times a year across the euro area.
EIB Investment Survey (EIBIS)
Excellent comparable EU dataset on investment, financing sources, financing constraints, digitalisation, climate and supply chains. Around 12,000 EU firms, with country, size and broad sector breakdowns.
EIB Investment Survey 2025
Current EU-wide benchmark plus individual country reports. Useful for comparing investment behaviour and reliance on external finance.
OECD Financing SMEs and Entrepreneurs Scoreboard
One of the best additions available. Tracks SME lending, rates, guarantees, equity, factoring/leasing and financing conditions across almost 50 countries.
Eurostat
Sector activity, turnover, production, business demography, employment, company size and country comparisons. Particularly useful for revenue/activity peaks, but these should not be labelled as actual loan-demand curves.
Eurostat Business Demography
Very useful for identifying which SME segments actually dominate each market, company births/deaths, and micro/small-business concentration.
European Commission SME Performance Review
Excellent overview of SME structure, employment, value added, productivity and country-specific performance. The latest 2025/26 report covers roughly 34 million EU SMEs.
Intrum European Payment Report
Particularly interesting for working-capital marketing. Covers late payments and payment behaviour across 25 European countries. The 2025 study includes 9,150 executives and estimates that 11% of business revenue is paid late.
France-specific
Banque de France
Strong France-specific source for lending demand, approval/access, rates and financing conditions. For example, Q2 2026 data shows 20% of French SMEs requested investment finance and 96% received at least 75% of the requested amount.
INSEE
French company activity, sector turnover, production, business confidence and company demographics.
Bpifrance Le Lab
Useful France-specific SME sentiment research around investment intentions, cash flow, confidence and business concerns.
Nordics-specific
SCB (Statistics Sweden)
Swedish company structure, sector turnover, business population and revenue seasonality. Useful when validating Froda's Swedish patterns.
Riksbanken
Swedish interest rates, monetary policy and credit/macro context.
Statistics Denmark
Danish businesses, sector activity, company population, turnover and economic statistics.
Danmarks Nationalbank
Danish interest rates, credit conditions and macro/financial system context.
Germany-specific
KfW Research
Excellent for Germany, particularly Mittelstand borrowing appetite, investment, credit access and financing barriers.
Fiscal calendars
National tax authorities / fiscal calendars
VAT, corporation tax, payroll/social-contribution deadlines and other predictable cash-out events. Build these separately by market rather than trying to use one EU calendar (e.g. the Swedish Tax Agency, France's impots.gouv.fr, Germany's BZSt).
Search & behavioral signals
Google Trends
Search-intent signal, useful for identifying when SMEs start researching business loans, working capital, equipment finance, invoice finance, etc. Don't treat search interest as actual lending demand.