[D14.1] Lending to business – business finance outstanding by business size and industry

D14.1 LENDING TO BUSINESS – BUSINESS FINANCE OUTSTANDING BY BUSINESS SIZE AND INDUSTRY

Data are compiled based on monthly returns collected by APRA from banks and registered financial corporations that have $2 billion of business credit or more. This threshold captures over 95 per cent of total business credit.

Data are subject to series breaks relating to changes in institution reporting and changes in the sample of reporting institutions. Data are not break adjusted.

'Outstanding' is the total outstanding business finance of each lender participating in the Economic and Financial Statistics (EFS) collection and measures the value of lending to resident non-related businesses. Lending includes loans, finance leases and bill acceptances. It excludes reverse repos.

For all data prior to April 2023, reporting entities applied common definitions of business sizes. A business was classified as small if the reporting entity had exposure to the business of less than $1 million and the business had turnover of less than $50 million. A business was classified as medium if the reporting entity had exposure to the business of $1 million or more and the business had turnover less than $50 million. A business was classified as large if it had a turnover of $50 million or more. 'Exposure' refers to all liabilities that a borrower had owing to the reporting entity. From April 2023 to May 2024, ADIs using the internal ratings-based approach to credit risk reported business lending consistent with the business size definitions in APRA’s Prudential Standards APS 112 and APS 113. Business size definitions for other reporting entities were unchanged over this period. From June 2024, all reporting entities report business lending consistent with the business size definitions in APRA’s Prudential Standards APS 112 and APS 113.

Industry categories are presented by ANZSIC division. Division E Construction is split into 301 Residential Building Construction, 302 Non-Residential Building Construction and Other Construction (31 Heavy and Civil Engineering Construction and 32 Construction Services).

Series for lending to large businesses in Public Safety and Administration, and Other Services are unavailable for publication but included in the totals where applicable.

For definitions and inclusion criteria for each series, please see Australian Reporting Standard ARS 742.0, available at https://www.apra.gov.au/absrba-business-credit-stocks-flows-and-interest-rates

Figures have been rounded and discrepancies may occur between sums of the component items and totals.

Series excluding selected financials exclude lending to authorised deposit-taking institutions, registered financial corporations, central borrowing authorities, and the Reserve Bank of Australia.

From April 2023, series excluding lending to selected financials were revised to remove lending to all financial businesses, to align with changes to the financial aggregates (see Statistical Tables D1 and D2). This has impacted the following series: DLBOTTXSF – Business; Outstanding; Total, excluding lending to financial businesses