Mark Cunningham, director of business banking at Bank of Ireland, faced a tough crowd at Isme’s national conference today
Mr Cunningham told delegates at the conference that Bank of Ireland will probably lend between €3.5 and €3.6 billion to the SME sector in 2010.
This would exceed the bank's commitment to providing €3 billion in new lending to small businesses this year.
However when questioned by one unimpressed Isme member as to whether the projected figures related entirely to new lending, Mr Cunningham revealed that about 50 per cent will in fact relate to re-financing or restructuring of existing loans, and re-funding of overdrafts.
Mr Cunningham also said that Bank of Ireland cannot continue to operate in an environment of rising funding costs without passing this on to its customers.