Business caution and other demand factors may be playing out in favour of the ever-growing non-bank sector, Scottish Pacific's SME Growth Index for March 2019 suggests."Two-thirds of SMEs said they did not use non-bank lending options in 2018, but more than half of these said they'd be open to it in the future," Peter Langham, the CEO of a long-established non-bank that styles itself a "national working capital funder".Drawing on research by East and Partners, Langham said the "the main change we've seen in the non-bank lending environment recently is that we are funding larger deals".One finding in the Index is that businesses that said they defined themselves as "growth with an investing" are less inclined to draw on the owners' own funds for expansion.While 84 per cent said "own funds" was a preferred source of finance, down from 90 per cent, it's material."The percentage of owners dipping into their own funds was always around 90 per cent."The secular upheaval flowing from last year's banking royal commission is leaving its mark.More than half of all SME respondents said the royal commission had made it harder, or would make it harder, for them to access business funds.