Japan's three major three banks are accepting a larger volume of applications for unsecured business loans for small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs).

Major banks, Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Sumitomo-Mitsui, and Resona, are ready to lend more than USD $40 billion in an effort to actively respond to rapidly growing financial needs of SMEs due to the economic recovery of the nation. The banks' total balance of available unsecured loans was $42.6 billion as of March this year, an increase of $8.5 billion over the previous year.

The loans will be variable interest, which makes it possible for the banks to flexibly adapt to unexpected changes in the financial market following the cancellation of zero interest rate policy in late July.

The banks call their unsecured loans the automated screening type because they present interest rates before application submission. It takes two to three days from application to depository. Because the loan has a variable interest rate, there is no need for interest negotiation during the payback period.

Japan