The strong pick-up in business confidence since the federal election may translate into greater demand for loans. Macquarie Research and East & Partners has found that a significant number of business owners are looking at borrowing more.Macquarie and East, which work together on the occasional Spotlight research series, surveyed 1000 businesses after the election and found that 27 per cent were considering borrowing more in the next 12 months.Respondents were asked: "Has the Coalition victory changed your mind about taking on additional business borrowings?"The segments that were most likely to increase borrowing were micro business and small business. Thirty-seven per cent of SME respondents said they intended to borrow more in the next 12 months.Among all respondents, another 18 per cent of business owners said they were likely to take on additional debt but were not sure about the timing.Seventeen per cent said they were undecided, 26 per cent said they would not borrow more, and 12 per cent said they were intending to borrow more, regardless of the election outcome.Yesterday, Roy Morgan Research reported that business confidence in September was at its highest level in two years, and the 14.7 point rise in confidence was the highest monthly increase in the history of the survey.The majority of respondents to the Roy Morgan survey said they expected good economic conditions in the year ahead and they believed it was a good time to invest in their businesses.Dun & Bradstreet has also found a strong improvement in business confidence. In a report released last week, it said 21.1 per cent of businesses expect their profits to increase in the months ahead, compared with 13.2 per cent in the previous survey.Macquarie and East said the bank with the biggest exposure to a pick-up in business lending is National Australia Bank.