Complaints that big banks were reluctant to lend money to small businesses have proved largely unfounded, according to a new study.
The results showed that most small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) had access to credit, and that poor communication was responsible for perceived problems.
The study “The challenges in the dialogue between banks and SMEs” was carried out by the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (Seco) and several economic partners.
“We were surprised by the outcome because the very small enterprises have difficulties getting loans from banks," said Peter Neuhaus, the director of the Swiss SME Foundation.
SMEs make up the backbone of the Swiss economy - accounting for 99.7 per cent of the 300,000 registered businesses in Switzerland and employing 75 per cent of all workers.
The study found that, despite earlier criticisms, most SMEs now seemed to be happy with the services that they received from their banks.
