Suncorp promises $3 billion to SMEs to help promote competition
(26 March 2019 – Australia) Suncorp Bank has pledged to provide $3 billion of new credit to small business and “increase it appetite for lending with less security”.
Suncorp made the announcement following the decision by the Council of Financial Regulators (CFR) to dismiss the banking royal commission’s proposed changes to the definition of a small business.
In his final report, commissioner Kenneth Hayne proposed to amend the definition of small business in the Code of Banking Conduct to any business or group employing fewer than 100 full-time equivalent employees, where the loan applied for is less than $5 million.
The current borrowing threshold is $3 million.
Suncorp Bank welcomed the CFR’s “considered approach to improve access to credit for small and medium-sized businesses across Australia” and has said that it will pledge $3 billion of new credit “for this critical segment, which will also provide benefit through increased competition”.
The non-major bank said it would also increase its appetite for lending with less security with “a focus on cash flow providing greater access to bank credit for small and medium-sized businesses”.