Home topics news Credit: Alexander Schimmeck News News Majority of SMEs opt for dual capital channels as business investment surges Yajush Gupta November 29, 2023 Four in five SMEs now partner with more than one lender for their working capital needs, with specialised services including Invoice Finance, Asset Finance and Trade and Supply Chain Finance, prompting more businesses to look beyond their main relationship bank. The preparedness of SMEs to work with multiple lenders contributed to the preference for non-bank lending remaining at an all-time high of 47%, which is double the rate of March 2022. The key findings come as a healthy 61% of SMEs stated they plan invest in their business in the next six months – a 15% jump year-on-year – and the highest level of investment intent recorded since 2019. The insights are contained in the latest round of the country’s longest running SME pulse check, the bi-annual SME Growth Index by ScotPac, Australia’s leading non-bank business lender. When asked to expand on their approach to secondary working capital relationships, SME owners and operators provided the following feedback: 67% nominated ease of credit approval as the leading factor for choosing a secondary provider. 37% rated higher credit limits a top three factor when assessing non-bank lenders. 60% of SMEs that do not have a secondary lender said that jumping through the onboarding hoops of a new provider was ‘all too hard’. Of those SMEs intending to invest for growth in the next six months, a considerable