By John S. McClenahen During the past three months, there's been some tightening of standards and terms for bank loans to commercial and industrial customers -- especially small firms. The net percentage of U.S. banks imposing tighter standards on ...
ByJohn S. McClenahen During the past three months, there's been some tightening of standards and terms for bank loans to commercial and industrial customers -- especially small firms. The net percentage of U.S. banks imposing tighter standards on commercial and industrial loans to large and mid-sized firms edged down to 20% from 22% between August and October, reveal data from the Federal Reserve System. In contrast, the net percentage of banks tightening loan standards for small firms soared to nearly 20% in October from just 6% in August. Loan terms showed a similar pattern. For example, the percentage of banks raising premiums on riskier loans to large and mid-sized firms declined to 40% from 50% between August and October. But the fraction of banks raising premiums on riskier loans to small firms increased from more than one-fifth to more than one-third between August and October.
