Business customers may wait for bank help

Retail customers get the PR-bundled, PM-endorsed version of help from banks. What do business customers get?

Sole traders are probably covered and many small companies as well.

Tension may arise, however, as banks define the boundary between the slow pull of household customers to bank hell with the harder tugs reeling in business clients.

There is little clarity on which classes of loans beyond home loans might be covered by the coordinated, major bank help for borrowers in difficulty.

There's some public relations to suggest that business will also covered by the gentle approach; Westpac, for example, has said this will be the case.

Banks already have programs in place to reprice business loans, a sector where margins must rise to cover the help extended to retail customers.

Based on interviews with business bank leaders in various media outlets in recent weeks it looks like file and pricing reviews have a long way yet to go.