Do banks have to help small businesses with accounts and loan proposals, or only lend?
The Reserve Bank advised that banks could set up special cells at branches, or build this help into their Financial Literacy Centres, for small units short on accounting, finance and planning skills. It says bank staff should be trained, and advised the centres to run camps for small entrepreneurs.
What the Reserve Bank says
- It is imperative for banks that units outside formal banking are brought into the fold of the formal banking sector.
- Lack of financial literacy and of operational skills, including accounting and finance and business planning, is a formidable challenge for micro and small borrowers.
- Banks were advised that they could either set up special cells at their branches or build this function into the Financial Literacy Centres they run, as suits them best.
- Bank staff should be trained through customised programmes to meet the sector's needs.
- Financial Literacy Centres run by banks were advised to hold target-specific financial literacy camps, and one of the target groups is small entrepreneurs.
What this means for you, in plain words
The text uses the words advised, could and should. For micro and small borrowers (the text does not name medium ones), our reading is that no bank is bound to prepare your proposal for you, but a bank can point you to a cell or a camp. The text does not say whether the help is free, so ask what, if anything, it costs.
What to bring so the help is useful (our suggestion)
- Twelve months of electricity bills and any fuel invoices, so the bank sees your running costs.
- The quote for the machine or solar plant you want to finance.
- A one-page note of what the new equipment will save and how you worked it out.
Before you go
- Ask your branch whether it has a Financial Literacy Centre or a special cell, and when its next camp is.
- Ask for the indicative checklist of documents. The Reserve Bank's direction says banks shall furnish it to small borrowers at the time of applying (paragraph 4.7, covered on our page on loan timelines).
What Senseible does here
Senseible reads fuel invoices and electricity bills into monthly records, which puts your energy bills on file for a loan proposal. It does not write business plans or loan proposals. Senseible can pass verified records to financing partners. The partner decides. Nothing is promised.
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Last reviewed 2026-11-07. Wording follows paragraph 5.4 of the Reserve Bank's Master Direction as updated on 9 February 2026, keeping advised, could and should. The reading that no bank is bound to prepare your proposal, and the document list, are ours.