In June, US Treasury secretary Timothy Geithner said that he expected the government to begin funding from its small-business lending programme. In September last year, president Barack Obama signed off on a $30 billion fund to banks to encourage them to lend to small and medium-sized enterprises. Interest, however, has been subdued. Only 869 of the 7,700-odd financial institutions that could have accessed the fund have applied to do so, and only $11 billion in loans has been requested.
Lending to SMEs is seen as imperative in boosting economic growth. Evidence shows that a country’s GDP is directly correlated to the number of SMEs (although typically for enterprises with more than 100 employees).
In the UK, there is a similar reticence by banks to lend to SMEs. As part of Project Merlin, four UK banks agreed to increase their lending to SMEs this year by 15% compared with 2010. Trade minister, and former HSBC chairman, Stephen Green, spoke out in June to encourage banks to honour the commitment to SMEs. To date only a quarter of the SME lending target of $76 billion for the year has been met.
Essentially the UK and US governments are expecting the banking sector to be responsible for helping SMEs and therefore boosting employment and increasing productivity.