Article 1 4.

The financial collateral to be provided shall consist of cash, financial instruments or credit claims;

Member States may exclude from the scope of this Directive financial collateral consisting of the collateral provider's own shares, shares in affiliated undertakings within the meaning of seventh Council Directive 83/349/EEC of 13 June 1983 on consolidated accounts ( 6 ), and shares in undertakings whose exclusive purpose is to own means of production that are essential for the collateral provider's business or to own real property.

Member States may exclude from the scope of this Directive credit claims where the debtor is a consumer as defined in Article 3(a) of Directive 2008/48/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 April 2008 on credit agreements for consumers ( *1 ) or a micro or small enterprise as defined in Article 1 and Article 2(2) and (3) of the Annex to Commission Recommendation 2003/361/EC of 6 May 2003 concerning the definition of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises ( *2 ), save where the collateral taker or the collateral provider of such credit claims is one of the institutions referred under Article 1(2)(b) of this Directive.