The head of supervision for credit institutions at the Central Bank is highlighting the scale of the SME lending crisis.
Fiona Muldoon said yesterday that half of the €50bn in bank loans to small and medium firms are non-performing.
She said many business owners are struggling with multiple buy-to-let properties and one of the Central Bank's priorities for 2013 is resolving the over-indebtedness of SMEs.
Irish banks are required to adopt appropriate restructuring or re-underwriting where possible when dealing with SMEs.