`Worse bank deals' for blacks

BLACK AND ASIAN business customers get a worse deal from their banks than white business customers, according to a report to published tomorrow. "Private Businesses and Their Banks", a report by the Forum of Private Business (FPB) will reveal that non-white business owners have smaller overdrafts, pay higher interest rates and find it harder to obtain finance than white owners of businesses.

Stan Mendham, the FPB chief executive, said: "The initial evidence on ethnicity is disturbing, but does not reveal why non-white businesses appear to get a poorer deal from their banks. The banks should encourage more research so that we get a clear understanding of the forces at play in this important area."