OUTSIDE THE FIELD of business lending, though unrivaled among financial intermediaries in the variety of services offered and assets owned, commercial banks do not dominate: they hold under two-fifths of all consumer loans, one-fifth of all residential mortgages, one-third of municipal bonds, 30 per cent of the publicly owned federal debt and 40 per cent of all time deposits.3 Commercial banks do stand preeminent in the external financing of small enterprises, extending over three-fourths of the total amount of small-business loans. If (as a 1952 Board of Governors staff study concluded) shortand intermediate-term financing is not generally a problem to small business, commercial banks are mainly responsible. Other sources -insurance companies, small loan companies, and friends and relativesare usually considered only after a bank has turned down a loan request. Federal credit agancies have not found it practicable to make many small loans because of the high administrative costs. Except for the V.A.guaranteed or V.A.-insured loans, government loans have gone to medium-