IE
Could SME become the place to be in 2010?
26 November 2009
Anglo Irish Bank could soon move away from large corporate deals to reinvent itself as a small and medium business lender, while Bank of Ireland is also committing more money to SMEs. Does this mean jobs are on the cards down the line?
Restructuring proposals for Anglo were leaked yesterday, outlining plans to hive off the underperforming loans into a 'bad bank', and then focus its attentions on lending to the SME sector. In the immediate future, though, this is unlikely to lead to new jobs – the bank still plans to make a further 230 redundancies next year.
Irish Nationwide has been hiring in this sector recently, however, and BoI says it has lent €2.1bn to SMEs in the first nine months of this year. It also maintains an "ongoing commitment" to SMEs through new specialist funds.
There is, of course, the danger that this could simply be all talk. At presentations to the Oireachtas Committee on Finance and the Public Service yesterday, AIB chief Eugene Sheehy said it's unlikely to up its SME lending any time soon, while BoI's Pat Molloy admitted a "mismatch" over lending figures.
Mark Fielding, chief executive of the Irish Small and Medium Enterprises Association (ISME), remains slightly sceptical of any immediate uptick in lending.
"Any increase in SME lending is some time away, and we certainly don't see any upturn for at least six to nine months," he says. "Banks are currently just re-boiling their current loans, readjusting existing facilities and charging more for them."
ISME would welcome Anglo's involvement, he adds, because of the "duopoly" of AIB and BoI, which hold 76% of the domestic SME market.
Jennifer Ward, manager, banking and financial services at Sigmar Recruitment, says most commercial lending professionals are working on existing loans.
"Many have been redeployed to work-out existing loans, restructuring them and ensuring they remain liquid," she says. "As a result, very few banks are recruiting for new positions."
Similarly, Fintan Lawler, banking consultant at Hudson in Ireland, says many banks are still adopting a "wait and see" approach, but believes that there will be some appetite to take on people within the SME lending space in the new year.
