Home featured Featured Finance Featured SME funding: Non-banks overtake banks for the first time Loren Webb September 24, 2019 For the first time Australian SMEs are more likely to use a non-bank ahead of their main bank to fund their 2019 growth plans, according to a national survey of more than 1000 businesses. The September 2019 SME Growth Index , to be launched this week, is conducted by banking analysts East & Partners, on behalf of national working capital funder Scottish Pacific . Twice a year owners, CEOs or senior staff of a representative range of small to medium businesses across Australia, with annual revenues of $A1-20m, are surveyed. Scottish Pacific CEO Peter Langham said during the five years of Index reporting, business owners planning to fund their growth via their main bank has halved – from 38% in 2014 to 18.3% now. SMEs looking beyond banks to fund business The September SME Growth Index found intention to fund growth using non-banks is now at its highest, with 18.7% of SMEs saying they’ll support their 2019 revenue growth plans by using non-bank funding. Only 2.6% of SMEs would not consider using a non-bank lender, almost halving from 4% last year. The Index results follow recently released Australian Banking Association statistics that show small business loan applications to banks have declined by one-third since 2014. “While it’s pleasing that business owners are increasingly aware of options outside a property-secured bank loan, the SME sector still has a long way to go