Call to revamp ‘SME’ bank

The State’s so-called SME bank, the Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland, should be restructured to more closely resemble a main street lender than merely a funding mechanism for the pillar banks, according to a prominent economic think-tank.

Among a number of measures aimed at breathing life into R&D and enterprise development among domestic firms, the Nevin Economic Research Institute yesterday called for the channelling of early-stage venture capital to SMEs via a State Investment Bank, with a lending value target of 7% of GDP by 2020.

Institute chief Tom Healy said a new investment bank should be a competitor of the main pillar banks, not a vehicle to complement them.