Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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To ask the Minister for Finance his views on the Credit Review Offices finding that 55% of appeals regarding loan refusals to small and medium enterprises have been overturned. [51880/12]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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The latest report of the Credit Review Office Shows that the CRO upheld the banks’ decision in 76 cases and disputed the decision in 96 cases and the banks subsequently provided credit. In addition there were 20 cases where either more work was needed by the bank and borrower or the review was withdrawn.

These figures show that the CRO can make a genuine difference in relation to refused applications for credit. The report shows that almost €10 million in credit was provided on foot of reviews which protected over 800 jobs.

As the Deputy may be aware, I recently published an assessment of the Credit Review Office carried out by Grant Thornton and engaged in a public consultation process in order to see what more the Credit Review Office can do to ensure SMEs are getting the support on bank lending they require. My officials are currently looking at how to implement the appropriate changes to the CRO regime. As a first step, I sanctioned an increase in the numbers on the Credit Review Panel in order to facilitate faster processing of decisions, thereby implementing one of the recommendations in the assessment.

The CRO report shows that businesses who are refused credit have a realistic prospect of a successful outcome in CRO reviews and I would strongly urge viable SMEs to appeal any refusals of credit to the CRO.