Foreign banks take lead in lending lift
A recovery in business borrowing in February 2011, as reported by both the RBA and APRA yesterday, appears to be the result of a draw-down on syndicated lending facilities, with the bulk of the extra credit being drawn from international banks.Financial aggregates published by the Reserve Bank of Australia show that business credit increased by 0.6 per cent in February 2011, after experiencing no growth in January and declines in each of the six preceding months.Data from the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority shows that growth in lending by banks to business increased by 1.7 per cent in February - or three times the rate reported in the RBA aggregates.Foreign banks reporting meaningful growth over the month included Bank of America, Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi, Citi, HSBC, ING, JP Morgan, Mizuho, Royal Bank of Canada and UBS. Of the domestic banks, ANZ and National Australia Bank also reported above average growth in business lending.