St George to offer free office space to small businesses to kickstart the sector

ST GEORGE are putting their money behind a boom in small business and are offering up free office space to support the idea.

St George CEO George Frazis and Small Business Minister Bruce Billson pictured in Sydney.

A MAJOR bank expects small business lending to grow to five per cent a year and is putting up an extra $2 billion in finance to back the expansion.

CEO of St George Bank George Frazis today said growth in lending in the sector was currently about one per cent a year but there was a burst of confidence ahead.

"Our sense is that we are almost at a tipping point," said Mr Frazis, forecasting "substantial growth."

"There's no doubt that the election was a big step forward in terms of confidence and we are just starting to see that confidence come through."

The bank expects much of the demand for funding to come from the service industry including online businesses and the "caffeine led recovery" through the growing number of coffee shops.

St George is responsible for about six per cent of small business lending nationally and 10 per cent in its home state of NSW.

Small Business Minister Bruce Bilson forecast a "renaissance in enterprise" he said would be aided by a reduction in red tape.

"The success of our work on these issues will be when young people walking in Chatswood (Sydney) when asked what they want to be, alongside Sonny Bill Williams they might say, 'I want to be a small-business owner'," said Mr Bilson.

He was helping open a new project by St George in which office space will be made available for free to small businesses.

The first suites are at the Chatswood Business Hub and later sites are expected n the CBD and Kogarah.

Small business operators, whether or not they bank with St George, will be able to use the office facilities while they get their businesses started.

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