THE newly created SME Bank will not crowd out lending by commercial banks to small and medium-scale enterprises (SMEs) and should help commercial banks in their lending to this segment of businesses, said Finance Minister II Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcop.
In the big scheme of things, commercial banks have over RM400bil in loans and a significant portion of those loans are towards SMEs. There is no issue of crowding out,'' Nor Mohamed said at The Star BizWeek Post-Budget CEO Breakfast in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.