Commercial and corporate loan balances flatline

According to data released by the Bank of Canada, commercial and corporate lending by Canadian Chartered banks has been treading water for the past few months. March 2010 was the peak for last year, but not much changed over the 12 month period, despite what is generally accepted as increased confidence in the economy. The category is “Business loans to Canadian residents for business purposes”:

December 2008: $191.563 billion
January 2009: $185.679 billion
February: $183.759 billion
March: $184.089 billion
April: $181.811 billion
May: $180.191 billion
June: $177.865 billion
July: $176.164 billion
August: $175.318 billion
September: $172.652 billion
October: $172.592 billion
November: $169.928 billion
December: $170.930 billion
January 2010: $169.423 billion
February: $169.604 billion
March: $170.959 billion
April: $170.663 billion
May: $167.878 billion
June: $166.869 billion
July: $168.488 billion
August: $166.274 billion
September: $165.062 billion
October: $169.796 billion
November: $168.892 billion
December: $169.162 billion

Commercial and corporate lending by chartered banks to Canadian-based businesses is still down by about $22 billion since December 2008.

Maybe if Bruce the Shark would stop trying to gather loan assets with its unbeatable cost of capital, the banking sector would have a chance to put its available cash to work on behalf of its shareholders.

MRM