Mr. John Trethowan:

That could be an issue. The banks reporting their monthly statistics on percentage sanction to the review office include only written formal applications. We have had a couple of reports in the last week about each of the two banks. A couple of people have come to the review office to say they went in and asked and were told not to bother. We have referred those reports to the banks. The staff in the two branches concerned are to be retrained to avoid that. I understand that in at least one of the banks, even informal requests are now being logged and sent to head office.

One cannot know what is said verbally by each of several thousand bank staff across the country on a daily basis. I remind small businesses that they have a right to apply for a loan. I urge them to do so but to make sure before they go in that they are well prepared and can argue their case. A request must be made formally and in writing. If it does not go into the bank system it will not be measured. If a loan is rejected and the applicant feels strongly about that, there is a bank appeal system and the Credit Review Office is there to help as well.