Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 6 May 2014

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation

Access to Finance for SMEs (Resumed): Credit Review Office and Chambers Ireland

2:10 pm

Mr. John Trethowan:

Yes. I do not have statutory powers to make the bank put a loan on its balance sheet. I can issue an opinion and, from time to time, we can have a debate about the opinion. We might have teleconferences and stuff like that with the banks. I have no powers to compel a bank to make a loan. In most cases, we find that the banks will come with us if we present the information. In general, our reviewers are able to produce a better proposal than the initial proposal that was made to the bank.