Unprecedented in 10 years: in 6 months, more than 10,000 companies, mainly very small businesses, contacted the ombudsman following a credit refusal by their bank. This compares with just 1,000 in 2019.
Claims for refusal to grant state-guaranteed loans
Most of the companies that have turned to the Credit Mediation service are very small businesses that have been refused state-guaranteed loans (PGE) by their banks. A total of 10,539 eligible files were submitted and registered between April and September 2020.
According to the figures announced by the Banque de France in a recent press release, the majority of companies requesting mediation are in the sectors most affected by the health crisis, with 54% in services and 23.3% in trade.
These referrals, which gradually decreased during the third quarter, concern a cumulative amount of credit of 2.3 billion euros, " which represents a very limited proportion, of the order of 1.8%, of EMP applications requested due to the low refusal rate by banks (estimated at 2. 7%)", explains the Banque de France press release.
Half of the companies that called on its services between April and September 2020, i.e. 5,119 companies, were vindicated by the Médiation du crédit, helping to safeguard 61,157 jobs.
Tightening credit conditions
While the rejection rate for state-guaranteed loans is relatively low, things are likely to get more complicated in 2021.
The end of the state guarantee scheme, initially scheduled for the end of December 2020, has been postponed by 6 months. However, the increase in the number of bankruptcies is likely to lead banks to tighten lending conditions.
Questioned by the European Central Bank in July, most of the major European banks were already saying they expected to tighten their conditions in the third quarter of 2020.
The second wave of the epidemic currently affecting the country has led the government to extend a number of measures designed to support businesses, such as short-time working, PGEs and deferred charges.
When these schemes come to an end, it is likely that banks will play the security card when faced with companies that have been severely weakened.