Commonwealth Bank has increased its small business lending at ten times the rate of competitors, with loans to small business totaling $25 billion The Australian reports.
Commonwealth Bank’s lending to small business grew at 8.3 percent over the last 12 months, ten times higher than the big four banks, and significantly higher than the 0.3 percent growth of the industry as a whole.
CBA’s executive manager of small business lending, Ian Narev, told The Australian that the bank’s success in lending to small business has been underpinned by their consistently low interest rates.
“We have been 30 to 80 basis points cheaper than our competitors,” Mr Narev said.
Competition in the small business lending segment is strong, with this likely to impact margins for CBA.
“It’s a very competitive market already — look at the way the others have been pretty aggressive,” he told the paper. “We don’t see the competition letting up. We think it’s going to stay in place.
CBA’s small business division currently deals with 130,000 customers.
