Commercial loan margins still on the rise

Commercial borrowers are unlikely to get relief from falling interest rates any time soon, a finance company director said yesterday.

Paul McCarthy, a director of Angas Securities, an Adelaide-based finance company, said companies were looking for alternative finance after being told by their banks that their margins would be going up double or more.

McCarthy said: "We had a borrower in here that had been with a big four bank for a number of years. The bank had told the company its margin would be going up by 100 per cent."

McCarthy reckons that good quality commercial clients are paying the banks 250 to 275 points over bills and others are paying anything from 300 to 500 over bills.

He said borrowers were also reporting that banks were taking a lot longer to approve commercial finance. "The credit department rules the shop in banks now," he said.

Angas raises money through debenture issues and provides commercial loans secured by first mortgage. It will lend up to $10 million but its sweet spot is in the $2 to $5 million range.

Angas managing director Matthew Hower said demand was strong from businesses that were finding that the banks had shut up shop.

Hower said: "The government's deposit guarantee scheme should have included a requirement on ADIs to provide a level of support to commercial borrowers.

"The guarantee has created a big flow of retail deposits for the banks. They have continued to provide home loans but some of them virtually stopped their commercial finance operations."