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Lending to small business is one of the most important services banks undertake. It enables businesses to grow, take on more employees and generate greater wealth across the economy. But, its important that banks can earn a return on this activity in order to sustain that service throughout the business cycle.
Ultimately, the price of lending is determined by the market. It is one of the most competitive areas as firms of all sizes choose where to place their business. Banks that overprice will lose out, while those that underprice will not be able to sustain their operations. There are three key drivers behind how banks price lending:
1. Cost of funds
In order to lend money to businesses, banks need to attract funds from depositors by paying them interest. They also need to aim to hold deposits for similar lengths of time as the term of loans financed. For this reason many institutions must pay higher interest rates for deposits.
3. Cost of administration
Meeting a business customer, assessing an application for finance, setting up a facility, providing the documentation, then monitoring and controlling that facility as well as providing regular information and revising facilities as required has a cost. While banks may use credit and performancescoring tools, most will also require a judgment to be made by an experienced relationship manager. Smaller facilities tend to have a relatively higher administrative cost per pound lent than larger facilities, and not all of that cost can be recovered through fees. So small facilities tend to bear higher margins, even if the risk is comparable with larger lending.
Combined, these factors mean that (although reference rates like Bank of England Base Rate and LIBOR continue to be used in quoting finance costs for example, 2% over Bank of England base rate) they dont reflect the real cost of funding and banks real costs are considerably higher. In addition to changes in how banks fund lending, the amount of capital banks are required to hold by regulators has risen sharply, leading to a corresponding increase in the cost of capital that is included in the price of debt. As economic conditions have become more severe the likelihood of borrowers being able to repay debt has reduced and, in line with banking regulations, banks must hold higher provisions against these potential losses. All these factors have considerably increased the cost to banks of providing finance compared to the more benign economic conditions in 2007 and prior.