Joe McHugh (Donegal North East, Fine Gael)
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Question 201: To ask the Minister for Finance his views on forced bank lending; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12384/10]

Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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I am assuming that in referring to "forced bank lending" the Deputy means forcing the banks to lend to customers to whom they would not otherwise lend. I would not consider this helpful and it will not aid the economic recovery of the banks if they incur high losses on risky loans they are forced into. However, the Deputy may be aware that under the NAMA Act I will shortly be issuing guidelines to ensure that SMEs, sole traders and farm enterprises will have recourse to an independent, external review of decisions of credit refusal by the NAMA participating banks. My aim is to have a simple, effective review process, run by people with experience and credibility. The banks must comply with the recommendations of the review process, or explain why they will not do so.

In addition to dealing with individual cases, the credit review system will examine the credit policies and practices of the banks in respect of SMEs. This will help me to decide what further action might be necessary to secure the flow of credit. I intend to publish the analysis from the review process so that the performance of the banks participating in NAMA will be clear to all. Work has been ongoing since December on the logistical aspects of the review system and it is envisaged that reviews will commence shortly.