Commonwealth Bank chief Matt Comyn says the strong job market is driving “robust” demand for corporate loans and economists warned strong business investment could push up prices for labour and equipment in the short term.its lending to businesses was up by $2.7 billion for the three months to the end of March, faster than the average of its rivals and more than in home loans. “We are seeing continuing resilience,” he said.
Over a longer-term horizon, investing in business capacity to supply more goods and services in the economy should provide a relief to inflationary pressures.On Thursday, Judo Bank, a business-focused lender, said it would settle $1.7 billion of new loans over the next three months, the strongest quarterly pipeline ever.
Macquarie is also targeting business lending. Total new capital expenditure by businesses was up 7.9 per cent in the December quarter, according to the latest data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.Mr Comyn said CBA remained comfortable growing business loans by more than its main rivals, but added it would avoid cutting rates to win market share volume, given the so-called mortgage wars last year had crunched bank margins.
“At this stage, we feel that we can continue to grow above system. But team will need to remain, and are, well-disciplined on pricing.”ANZ chief executive Shayne Elliott suggested the strength of business lending this week would build on these challenges.Arsineh HouspianEconomists said resilience in the business sector is an overall a positive for the economy but could add to inflationary pressures in the short term.
“It is good for the economy as whole, but the level of demand in the economy is stronger than it would be otherwise,” Mr Cacho said. “These are all areas where there is lots of economic activity, and we are seeing that day in, day out in the marketplace.”
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