(1 March 2005 – Australia) National Australia Bank said it expects lending to micro businesses and SMEs to break the A$10 billion barrier over the next 12 months.NAB executive general manager of Business and Private Banking, George Frazis, said the bank was seeing increasing demand from business owners and managers for further funding.
Frazis admitted the bank hadn’t taken advantage of buoyant conditions in the SME markets last year but said the bank was now well positioned to do so.
“We are hearing from a lot of businesses that they want to grow and take advantage of various current economic opportunities. We are listening and responding,” Frazis said.
Frazis highlighted a couple of recent initiatives designed to attract small and medium business customers, including its “On the Spot” response to requests for business loans and greater autonomy on credit limits for relationship managers out in the field.
“We are reducing complexity around our lending processes and making finance easier for our customers,” Frazis said. However, he said this did not mean any softening in lending criteria or risk increase.
“These moves signify how we are responding to the needs of business owners and managers and their business as well as their personal financial need.