The muted, even trivial, supply of urgently needed business finance from banks - especially for SMEs - in the face of an epic contraction and a national consensus to minimise job shedding has turned into a flash point between the industry and the Australian government.
Barely six weeks has passed since the big banks (especially) and their industry association elected to play the reputation recovery game. At the time they presented themselves as core (and keen) members of 'Team Australia', shorthand for big business following the federal government playbook to cushion the deep fall in output and demand flowing from social distancing and lockdown rules and to contain the threatened fast spread of COVID-19.
In a media conference at lunch time yesterday, Josh Frydenberg, dropped a major announcement on expectations for banking, paired with complaints about banks; one not otherwise previewed.
Frydenberg said the four major banks had "agreed to set up a dedicated hotline for their customers to call to receive the bridging finance necessary to pay their staff ahead of receiving money under the JobKeeper program.
"Importantly, they have also agreed to expedite the processing of all those applications to the front of the queue," he said.
Prime minister Scott Morrison later clarified that "the Treasurer has been with the four major banks twice in the last 24 hours".
The second of those meetings, yesterday morning, included the Tax Commissioner, Chris Jordan and it seems this was an aggravated affair.
Morrison's office (presumably) briefed out the government's side of what was talked about and its import.
The Australian this morning begins its lead article with unvarnished venom on the part of their staple source.
"Australia's biggest banks have been stymieing business attempts to gain bridging finance for wages before the $130 billion JobKeeper payments begin next month, prompting Scott Morrison to order them to be read the riot act.
"The Australian understands the banks buckled to demands to lift their game after a furious Prime Minister vented his anger about the big four during a phone hook-up with tax commissioner Jordan and Frydenberg early on Thursday."
In a sign that the industry was rushing to catch up, the usual communications from big banks and the Australian Banking Association took until late afternoon or early evening to emerge, a couple of them confirming the key charge against the banking industry.
"Banks have already granted more than $700 million worth of loans to businesses to help them through the crisis," the ABA wrote in their media release.
Come again? Only $700 million? Surely this number would be well in eight figures by now, even nine, but apparently not.
Commonwealth Bank said that "to date, we have approved more than $340 million in loans for thousands of small businesses so they can stay open for business, hibernate through the shutdown and retain staff".
CBA said "almost 80 per cent of these loans are for businesses eligible for the JobKeeper program so small business can avoid the need to terminate staff. These are unsecured loans of up to $250,000 at historically low rates."
Banking Day was able to clarify the CBA loan volume number begins from March 20, while the scope of the ABA's estimate for the whole industry is vague.
The ABA media release from this time bragged the Small Business Relief Package "will apply to more than $100 billion of existing small business loans and, depending on customer take up, could put as much as $8 billion back into the pockets of small businesses as they battle through these difficult times."
ANZ in in statement shared a couple of data points, but nothing on loan volumes.
"ANZ has already provided more than 6300 SME customers with a 10 per cent increase on their overdraft accounts, which has helped alleviate some of the financial pressure and provided support until Job Keeper payments arrive," the bank said.
"ANZ has also provided loan repayment deferrals to about 15 per cent of its SME customers."
Are these tepid industry numbers on crisis loans a function of surprisingly lame demand from business for credit (and credit relief)?
Or a function of latent distrust in the industry?
Or (most likely) the product of an overwhelmed banking elite being gifted a golden opportunity to blow off as much as the industry possibly could of all the odour from the banking royal commission - and then monumentally messing things up?