John Trethowan, Credit Reviewer has today published the ninth quarterly review of the Credit Review Office. The report highlights Mr Trethowan’s observations on the market conditions in the SME sector.
Figures for this period also show that banks are largely on track to provide €3.5bn in credit to the SME sector in 2012. While the €3.5bn of sanctions for each bank is a “very challenging target”, Mr Trethowan said “the remaining five months typically show more lending activity and I am of the view that, after a slow start to the year, the targets will be a challenge but still may be achieved”.
Additionally, during the past three months, the Credit Review Office has received 36 eligible applications from SME’s who have been refused Credit by AIB and Bank of Ireland. Work is ongoing on 12 cases, and three have been withdrawn. Of the 21 cases completed in this quarter, 14 bank refusals were overturned resulting in the two banks subsequently supplying €1,180,224 of credit, supporting a further 106 full and part time jobs in the SME sector.
The report highlights the concern that, current market perception of the Irish economy, it is unlikely that new players will enter the lending sector in the near future and so, the three active players in the market, AIB, BoI and Ulster Bank, will need to be closely watched by regulators and all commentators.