The reaction of many financial institutions at a time like this is to tighten up credit terms and conditions. We have not done that. On the contrary, we are trying to go the other way as best we can, always remembering that we have to deal with creditworthy businesses. We will, for example, provide a holiday on capital repayment if we think the business is going through a tough time but has a good future, a good management team, and a good business model. We will actually release a company from repaying capital for up to six months. We're trying to go as far as we can and still be prudent bankers.
On June 11th, 2009. See this statement in context.