The strengthening of the power of the Credit Review Office has been hailed as a potentially key breakthrough in small firms’ ongoing battle to access funding.

Bank of Ireland and AIB remain on track to achieve their €4bn SME loan approval targets for 2013, but of the amount sanctioned to date only 34% qualifies as new lending, the Credit Review Office has stated.

John Trethowan has said his Credit Review Office will still have an important role to play for at least another couple of years; as an increased number of appeals regarding failed refinancing and working capital requests are expected.

The Credit Review Office is lobbying Government to significantly extend the limits to which SMEs can appeal regarding refused funding.

A lack of quality among Ireland’s small business community and a paucity of lending banks in the marketplace are curtailing SME growth, an ESRI-hosted conference heard yesterday.

The pillar banks lack the lending skills necessary for more challenged SMEs looking for credit, according to the head of the Credit Review Office, John Trethowan.

Debt forgiveness on some outstanding SME loans will be required to deal with the debt crisis, a Dáil committee was told yesterday.

The declining number of banks making loans to small businesses in Ireland is of increasing concern because of the need to ensure competition and protect customer service, the credit reviewer said.

The Credit Review Office is urging businesses that have had credit applications unfairly rejected to contact them.

The lack of competition in banking has led to a failure of the two pillar banks to take calculated risks on lending to new businesses according to the credit reviewer John Trethowan.

Matt the Threshers, of Birdhill, Co Limerick, was one of the beneficiaries of the Credit Review Office’s judgments allowing the pub to expand into Dublin.

In the last two years, interventions from the Credit Review Office (CRO) has resulted in nearly €7m being advanced to 69 small firms.

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

Loans to households continued to decline in January, falling by 3.9% or €690m compared to the same period last year, according to the Central Bank.

FEWER than half of businesses that approach banks seeking finance end up making a loan application, an Irish Examiner/Cork Chamber survey reveals.

SMALL businesses have hit back at the Credit Review Office (CRO) which claims that AIB and Bank of Ireland will fail to meet their €6 billion credit commitments due to a lack of demand for loans.

Business chiefs have today clashed with a Government group tasked with ensuring lenders free up credit, branding it a mouthpiece for the banks.

REPRESENTATIVES of the Credit Review Office (CRO) and ISME have been appointed to a new board aimed at improving communication flow between Government and small firms.

The first meeting was held today of the new Small Business Advisory Group, an initiative aimed at facilitating dialogue between the Minister for Small Business John Perry and representatives of the small business sector.

THE Credit Review Office has poured cold water on ongoing claims SMEs are still finding it difficult to access bank loans, by saying both demand and refusals are in decline.

THE recapitalisation of the country’s two main banks – AIB and Bank of Ireland – has improved the flow of credit to the small business sector, according to the body which was established to oversee corporate lending patterns of NAMA-related banks.

Lending to small firms by the country’s two main banks is improving, according to the second quarterly report from the Credit Review Office (CRO) published today by the Government.

Rather than using expert knowledge to sign our death warrant, those who create ideas in Ireland should be given the means to move forward, writes Tom O’Connor.

ISME has noted an improvement in the level of bank lending to small businesses but said credit levels are still a long way off normal patterns.

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.

THE Government’s new Credit Review Office has concluded that no evidence exists of any credit constraints to the small business and farming sectors on behalf of the country’s two main banks.

BANKS will be forced to make €12 billion worth of lifeline loans to struggling businesses, Finance Minister Brian Lenihan last night pledged.

FINE Gael has called for an extension to the remit of the Credit Review Office (CRO) to include existing loans and working capital grants to small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs).

AIB will today be the first bank to answer the summons of Enterprise Minister Batt O’Keeffe to discuss the stonewalling loan requests to small and medium-sized enterprises.

Enterprise and Innovation Minister Batt O'Keeffe is to meet top bankers to discuss lending to small and medium- sized businesses.

THE head of the new Credit Review Office – aimed at overseeing bank lending to SMEs – has expressed confidence in his role making a difference, despite the fact that he will have no statutory powers.

A state body set up to support small businesses refused loans has no powers to force banks to overturn decisions, it was disclosed today.

THE Institute of Certified Public Accountants in Ireland wants a fast-track Dáil debate on the Government’s proposal to act as guarantor on bank loans to small businesses.

ONE in three businesses with fewer than 10 workers cannot get bank loans to finance their enterprises, a report compiled for Finance Minister Brian Lenihan reveals.

SMALL and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have been granted the right to appeal the refusal of banks to give them loans.

Special Olympics supremo Mary Davis is to head a new national citizenship task force to urge people to get involved in voluntary work in their communities.

NATIONAL Irish Bank (NIB) has appointed 38-year-old Andrew Healy as its new chief executive.

Staff in National Irish Bank are being trained to spot money laundering activity at branches, it emerged today.

DANSKE BANK is to separate Northern Bank and National Irish Bank into two stand-alone units.

NATIONAL Irish Bank is to pay €10.6 million to almost 77,000 customers over the next 12 months as a result of an examination by the High Court Inspectors into fee overcharging between 1988 and 1998.