According to the US Federal Reserve, the US banks have eased their lending standards for the small business groups for the first time in almost after four years.

In the latest survey of Federal Reserve on banks’ lending standards it has found that the easing in lending standards has been occurring mainly in the largest domestic banks of the country. But it has also found that many smaller banks continued to struggle on their lending.

According to the Federal Reserve, it has seen such easier lending standards for small businesses since the late part of 2006. The smaller business firms include those companies which have annual sales less than 50 million dollars.

The banks had been imposing much relaxed credit standards for the big corporations or companies. But this survey unveiled that the banks have started to ease credits for the smaller companies for the first time. Meanwhile, the demand for business and customers loans remained unchanged.

The survey has also found smaller restrictive credit condition for almost every type of industrial and commercial loans. The Federal Reserve has also found that the larger banks were interested in providing the home loans to their customers.