I am a qualified accountant working with a multi-industry group of companies which has seen much better times. By being prudent in our cash flows and actively managing our gearing ratios, we are surviving the financial crisis despite a drastic fall in sales and income.

As such, I am glad to inform your readers that our borrowings are at an all time low.

However, the largest local financial institution refused to honour a term loan draw down as per the signed loan agreement by giving reason that the bank’s loan file could not be located, thus needing us to re-apply for a loan despite a signed agreement.

This is in addition to the fact that we forwarded a copy of the actual signed loan agreement to the bank.

This same largest local financial institution where we have overdraft facilities also played us out by reducing our overdraft limit leading to an overdrawn position when the overdraft limit was lowered down by a big margin.

Yet this bank can buy up an expensive highly-priced Indonesian bank at the wrong time spending billions of ringgit thus leading to substantial write downs due to impairment.

We have an overdraft facility with another local financial institution where the present facility is over-collateralised by at least three times. Feeling confident, on behalf of the company, I applied for a relatively small term loan providing cash flows, audited accounts, management projections and complying with many documents provided.

But to my horror, the application for this additional loan was rejected by the giving of non- coherent reasons like that one of the directors is too old, another director does not have enough personal income, the directors’ balance account is too big and the name of the company does not sound right.

Instead, this local institution continued to reduce our overdraft limit for draw down.

One local entrepreneur, Vincent Tan in an interview and published in The Edge Malaysia on Jan 25 stated that ‘during the crisis, when you needed an umbrella the most, and when it rained heavily, they took away the umbrella’.

The statement is correct in every sense. The fact that one applies for loans and overdraft means that not every thing is perfect.

If everything is in order, then there is no need for any borrowing. As long as there is sufficient collateral, a good consistent management team, reasonable past records and acceptable projections, the banks must assist although not politically-connected.

I feel that the banks are very unforgiving during times of recession. Now that the recession is coming to an end and the prospects turning around, I feel helpless when answering the board of directors on the conduct of our local banks.

The board of directors informed me that maybe it is time to sell off some of the existing properties, pay off everyone and then do business in another country thus leading to the continuing outflow of investments.

If that happens, then I better look for another job. Maybe in the entertainment line since I am also a yesteryear dancer.