Small businesses see slight change in banks' attitude to loan approvals
The Irish Small and Medium Enterprises Association says there has been a slight improvement in the rate of refusals for loans to small businesses.
A study by ISME shows a 5% decrease in the rate of loan refusals by banks to 43%.
The data, which takes in the past three months, also shows a 6% increase in demand for loans by small businesses.
CEO of ISME, Mark Fielding, is calling for more training for bank officials when it comes to risk assessment and loan approvals.
Mr Fielding said: "We lost a lot of the old bank officials who left during the recession and they are being replaced by people who don’t have the expertise.
"So they find it difficult to assess risk and in many cases then just refuse a loan rather than actually assessing the risk."
