Banking Services for Small Businesses: A Study of Entrepreneurs' Needs and Expectations (Company Overview‪)‬

The relationship between banks and small businesses has always been one of mutual dependence. Small businesses are a very important customer group for banks. Small business borrowers, according to one estimate, account for one quarter of total bank credit provided to non-financial businesses and represent 80-90% of the business customers serviced by account managers (Hatch and Wynant, 1991). Most commercial banks consider any business with sales of up to $10 million as small (Nixon, 1994). Using this definition, some 20 million small businesses are served by 14,000 banks in the United States (Nixon, 1994; Posner, 1992).