Australian businesses have adapted well to volatile market conditions, according to a senior business banker.Commonwealth Bank's executive general manager of corporate financial services, Symon Brewis-Weston, said companies were well prepared to deal with uncertainty.Brewis-Weston runs mid-market business banking, which covers companies with an annual turnover of between A$10 million and $100 million. "Our clients have better business plans, they have succession plans in place, and they have contingency plans in place to deal with events such as a big move in the dollar," he said."Financial institutions are asking a lot more questions about these issues. On these matters, businesses are in the best shape in a decade."Brewis-Weston said companies were also lowering their gearing ratios, building bigger cash buffers and taking advantage of low fixed rates to hedge their interest rate exposure.This approach is reflected in the latest lending figures, which show that providers of business finance have had a lacklustre couple of months. There are some signs of demand picking up again, however, at least at the smaller end of the market.The Australian Bureau of Statistics estimated new lending for business at $27.6 billion in August 2012, on a seasonally adjusted basis, which is down five per cent on the previous month.The mild recovery in new lending seen in the second half of 2011 and the first half of 2012 may, thus, be petering out.A counterpoint to this is the measure of demand for business finance compiled by Veda (operator of a credit information bureau) which shows a pick up in applications for business credit over the September quarter.Yesterday, Commonwealth Bank launched a new business survey, the Future Business Index. It shows that mid-market business sentiment has weakened over the past six months.Companies in the mining, health, education and retail sectors were the most positive, while confidence in the construction, transport and logistics sectors has fallen significantly.Brewis-Weston said business generally was waiting for a turnaround in consumer sentiment. Businesses are worried about rising operating costs, particularly energy costs, and a slowdown in economic activity in Asia.The survey found that subdued revenue and profit forecasts have led to a decline in risk appetite. This is reflected in a fall in job advertisements, postponements in capital expenditure and reduced demand for borrowing.Around one in three companies said they planned to use debt to fund new investments or a business expansion.