Banking Industry Group Releases Business Lending Survey Results

Businesses in the Granite State are increasingly optimistic about economic growth and their ability to add jobs. They report that NH banks are meeting their credit needs, according to a survey commissioned by the New Hampshire Bankers Association.

Business owners said the top challenges facing them are economic uncertainty, a decline in consumer spending and the cost of health care. Access to credit was low on the list of concerns, and was cited as a challenge less frequently than federal and state regulation, personnel costs and taxes.

The survey confirms that New Hampshire's banking industry continues to meet the credit needs of businesses across the state, said Christiana Thornton, president of the NH Bankers Association. It reflects an ongoing commitment by New Hampshire's banks to partner with local businesses in order to help them grow. The majority of businesses continue to look to their bank for their financing needs, and receive the credit they are seeking."

Other survey findings were:

•       82 percent of all businesses surveyed said they had no difficulty accessing the credit they needed in the last 12 months.
•       An overwhelming majority of those seeking credit, 94 percent, said they looked to banks for their credit needs.
•       Fully 41 percent of businesses surveyed sought a loan or line of credit in the past year, and the majority of those companies, 62 percent, were approved for the full amount requested.
•       86 percent of all businesses surveyed said they plan to stay with their current lender.
•       30 percent of businesses said they expect the economy to expand in the next 12 months, compared to 20 percent in a national sample.
•       More than half 52 percent expect to see growth in gross sales and revenues, and 31 percent say they expect to add employees.

Kathryn G. Underwood, chair of the NH Bankers Association and president of Ledyard National Bank, said, We're glad to see that, as we expected, the survey shows that banks are providing our small businesses with the capital they need to expand and succeed in a growing economy." 

The survey, conducted by the University of New Hampshire Survey Center over six weeks ending April 3, 2012 based findings on contact with 401 businesses of all kinds and sizes from across the state. Annual revenues among respondents ranged from $500,000 to $5 million, and three quarters of them have fewer than 20 employees.