CRO a ‘mudguard for the banks’

The Irish Small and Medium Enterprises association (Isme) chief executive Mark Fielding has described the Credit Review Office as “a mudguard for the banks”.

In the last quarter, the CRO was only successful in forcing banks to reverse credit decisions in 10 cases.

The office’s seventh annual report showed that, in the last quarter of 2011, 22 applications were made to the CRO. In seven cases, the banks’ decision to refuse or withdraw credit facilities were upheld while the remainder were withdrawn by the borrowers or lenders.