State review team finds no evidence of credit squeeze

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.

However, the Office — which was launched at the beginning of April to review bank lending practices to the SME sector — has disputed a third of the cases it has reviewed in its first three months in existence.

At the launch of his first quarterly update yesterday the CRO’s head, John Trethowan, said that of the six reviews into bank lending decisions he has completed to date, three have been upheld by him and two have been disputed, while “more work is required by both borrower and bank” in the other.