Banks ‘taking too long’ on loan decisions

Small firms lobby group Isme has welcomed new figures showing increases in SME lending levels, but said banks are still taking too long to decide whether or not to approve loan applications.

New data, published yesterday by the Central Bank, showed gross new lending to SMEs (excluding those in the financial or property sectors) amounted to €1.1bn over the course of the first half of the year; up marginally from €900m for the same period last year.

There was, however, a 1.5% decline to €22.6bn in the second quarter. SMEs accounted for 38% of all credit advanced to the private sector from the covered banks during the six months and the amount of outstanding loans to SMEs was down by nearly 3%, on a quarter-by-quarter basis, at the end of June.