Interview with Roman Kalina, the executive director in the credit-risk management department of Ceskoslovenská Obchodní Banka (CSOB), sustains it is untrue banks are reluctant to lend to small- and medium-sized companies (SMEs) for fear of taking on too much risk. The business and legal environment improved considerably over the last seven years, and a new bankruptcy law isn’t likely to have a direct impact on willingness of banks to lend, he says. CSOB is the largest retail bank in terms of total assets. Q: SMEs continue to complain that banks don’t provide loans for them. Banks complain they have too much in deposits sitting unused. Is lending to SMEs still so risky? A: I think those perceptions go back four or five years. Banks then weren’t very keen to lend to SMEs for various reasons. The business environment looked different.
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