Summary:
The government's new competition watchdog is to investigate the failure of banks to lend to small firms.

Full article:
By . Daily Mail Reporter . PUBLISHED: . 19:15 EST, 7 March 2014 . | . UPDATED: . 19:16 EST, 7 March 2014 . The new competition watchdog is to investigate the banks’ failure to lend to small businesses. It will be the first major probe undertaken by the Competition and Markets Authority, which takes over from the  Competition Commission and the Office of Fair Trading next month. It marks a victory for the Daily Mail’s ‘Make the Banks Lend’ campaign launched in July 2010 to highlight the plight of small firms, which need money to grow. The Competition and Markets Authority will look into banks' failure to lend to small businesses (library image) The OFT began a review of small business lending last year, amid concerns that healthy firms were being starved of credit. Banking industry insiders confirmed yesterday that it had found sufficient evidence of wrongdoing to recommend a full-scale inquiry by the CMA. The investigation will pile more pressure on the High Street giants. About £42billion of cheap money has been made available in lending schemes over the past 18 months but although households have benefited from cheap mortgages, lending to small firms continues to fall. Between April 1 and December 31 last year, firms made repayments that totalled £1.32billion more than they received in loans.