SME

Question

Senator CANAVAN: It will? Okay. You said 90 per cent before, but someone's told me here that the commercial account institutional finance is more than seven times larger than the SME transaction total in the register. Mr Hopkins : Obviously, the institutional business is dealing in multiple millions of dollars of transactions in value. Our SME transactions can be as low as $100,000. So it tracks high in customer numbers but low in value compared to- Senator CANAVAN: So is that 90 per cent figure volume or numbers of customers? Mr Hopkins : It's numbers of customers, yes. Senator CANAVAN: Okay. So what's the proportion in terms of value for SMEs? Mr Hopkins : I don't have the exact proportion, but we can get that for you on notice. Senator CANAVAN: Alright. Do you track how many of those transactions directly support Australian exporters? Mr Hopkins : It's all to support Australian exports-certainly, the SME business is all to support Australian exporters. In the institutional business, our mandates are different, and we'll be supporting either Australian benefit or Australian content into projects, so it's slightly different. Senator CANAVAN: I suppose that's my question: do you track that at all? Mr Hopkins : Yes, we do. Senator CANAVAN: What proportion is that at the moment? Mr Hopkins : I don't have that number for you, but we could work that out and provide that information for you. Senator CANAVAN: Okay. Given that the new strategic reserve account does open up this ability to support fossil fuel projects, have you been provided with any advice about how you might do that in a way that maintains the government's emissions reduction goals? Mr Hopkins : These are on the national interest account? Senator CANAVAN: Yes. Mr Hopkins : In terms of the national interest account, we do what we're directed to do. We have emissions reporting requirements, which these transactions will factor into. Again, I can provide you with some detail about those, or we can provide that to you on notice, if you want that information.