Action urged over credit demand

THE Small Firms Association wants the Department of Finance to commission a survey of companies’ lending needs to counter-act the banking sector’s understatement of the demand for credit.

SFA director Patricia Callan is also calling for a state-backed loan guarantee scheme, and for the advocacy remit of the Money Advice and Budgeting Service (MABS) to be extended to allow it negotiate with banks on behalf of small firms.

Ms Callan was speaking in response to the fifth report from the Credit Review Office (CRO), which indicates that Ireland’s pillar banks are unlikely to meet their €3 billion additional lending requirements this year.