FEATURE | SME Support

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SMEs feeling the pinch of the downturn and dried up credit have a new outlet to have their credit reviewed, writes

BRIAN O’NEILL.

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Help is at hand

IRISH SMES COULD BE FORGIVEN for

thinking that a misdeed in a previous life was coming back to haunt them. Already struggling to keep their businesses afloat in one of the most turbulent global economic times, businesses here have had to contend with some of the worst flooding on record, the ‘big freeze’ in January, and the volcanic catastrophe in Iceland that closed Irish airspace for eight days. As nature added to the man-made woes of the economy, it became clear that the last

24 InBusiness May 10

six months have certainly not been favourable to business.

It can be easy to overlook positive news when it seems like there’s no avenue for recovery, but for businesses struggling with their finances, whether they are issues with credit availability or monetary support issues, there is help at hand. Established in last year’s budget announcement, the Credit Review Office was set up to look into the increasing disparity between the views of the market and that of

Ireland’s financial institutions when it comes to credits issues and lending. The third Mazar’s report published in April this year highlighted the level of support provided by Irish banks to viable SMEs with almost €1.6 billion in credit being approved across 29,000 applications in the last quarter of 2009.

“Businesses in Ireland have been saying that they simply cannot get credit from their banks,” says John Trethowan who heads up the newly- formed Credit Review Office. “On the other Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82