A rush of new players and products has barely dented the dominance of Australia's big four banks in the $80bn small-business lending market.
A new report prepared for the Australian Bankers Association by accountants KPMG shows that, despite an increase in finance providers in recent years, ANZ, Westpac, National Australia Bank and Commonwealth have maintained a vice-like grip on small business with an 83 per cent lending share.
With a minimum individual share of 18 per cent, the powerful quartet dominate regional and overseas players such as St George (4.9 per cent), HSBC (3 per cent) and BankWest (1.5 per cent).
Bank lending to small business as at June 30 stood at $78bn, including $29.8bn approved in 2002-03. And after several years of decline, credit approvals have risen an average 8 per cent over the past two years.
