Some 40% of Australia’s 500 biggest corporations have urged the country’s banks to ease their lending requirements as the global downturn puts increasing pressure on refinancing terms, reports the Australian Associated Press.
Dan Fitts, a partner at law firm Clayton Utz, recently told the Finsia corporate lending conference in Melbourne that banks are “taking every opportunity” to tighten their funding criteria and cut the length of their terms.
He said only 4% of loans agreed in 2008 had terms fixed for between five and nine years, down from 10% the year before. Meanwhile, short-term financing for less than one year collapsed from 14% to less than 1%.