SMALL and medium sized enterprises can provide input to the Independent Review into lending by Royal Bank of Scotland using a new website.
The facility has been created to allow businesses, including those that have been refused loans, to say what they think the review - launched last month - should cover and why.
The bank said the responses will inform the findings and conclusions of the review, which will be completed by Sir Andrew Large and the management consultancy Oliver Wyman.
"There are many opinions on what banks could do to lend more but the most important are those from businesses themselves," said Ian Cowie, chief executive, business and commercial banking at RBS group.
The launch of the review followed repeated claims banks have not provided the support businesses have needed to help cope with the tough trading conditions many faced in recent years.
Royal Bank of Scotland Group, which owns NatWest, said it had faced lingering doubts about its willingness to lend sufficiently to UK SMEs.
The group said Sir Andrew, a former deputy governor of the Bank of England, and Oliver Wyman would undertake an independent review of its lending standards and the practices used to deploy them for SME lending. Due for publication in the autumn, the review is expected to identify steps RBS and NatWest can take to enhance support to SMEs and the economic recovery while maintaining prudent lending practices.
The group said the review will help promote a common understanding of the way it makes its lending decisions.
The website invites respondents to offer their perception of lending issues and to say what the review should focus on.
The address is www.independentlendingreview.co.uk
With 1.2 million SME customers, RBS group said all feedback will be considered but there can be no guarantee all responses will be incorporated directly into the review.
A spokesman for the Federation of Small Businesses said it would like to see more competition in the small business funding market but expects RBS to be a significant player in business banking for the foreseeable future.
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