Credit for small business ‘crucial’

THE head of the Credit Review Office (CRO) has said anything that can get capital moving to the small business community would be welcome, without clearly endorsing the establishment of a state-controlled strategic investment bank — for which opposition parties are calling.

At a sitting of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Enterprise, Fine Gael and Labour representatives separately made respective calls for the establishment of a “good” asset recovery bank and a state-controlled strategic investment bank, in order to boost competition and avoid the prospect of AIB and Bank of Ireland becoming the only lending prospects to SMEs.

The call for the latter was made by Labour’s enterprise spokesperson, and the committee’s chairperson, Willie Penrose (and supported by Fianna Fáil TD NedO’Keeffe).