CRO: SMEs should appeal if refused credit

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

A new Central Bank report says the level of loan refusals in Ireland is the second highest in the euro area.

Twenty five per cent of Irish firms are being turned down - compared to a rate of one in twenty eight in Germany.

Head of the CRO John Trethowan says his office can review funding requests that have been rejected: “Put the application in and if you feel it has good merits and gets turned down, you can appeal for a higher level of scrutiny at the bank.

“If that fails you can come to the Credit Review Office and we will do our best to help and credible business to get access to credit.”

AIB, meanwhile, says it's a matter of major concern to the bank that there's a perception among many Irish SMEs that they can't approach banks for credit.

AIB is strongly encouraging firms to contact the bank about new lending and refinancing - saying it's acutely aware of the imperative to provide credit to fuel businesses.

The bank says it exceeded its SME lending target of €3bn last year and is 17 % ahead of its year to date target of €3.5bn for 2012.

So far this year, AIB says it has sanctioned 92% of formal applications.