Ask many small businesses what their biggest problem is and they'll often point to the lack of finance from their bank.
Despite the efforts made by the previous and current governments, our high street banks still seem reluctant to lend money and provide credit for small and medium-sized businesses.
But many entrepreneurs say banks are still too remote from them and long for the days when they had a real relationship with a local manager.
Unlike Britain, Germany and Sweden has retained its local banks. Almost every town, city and district has one, owned and run by the communities.
The people that run these banks believe they've played a crucial role in helping weather the economic turbulence of the last few years better than the UK.
They say local banks have continued to support small businesses because of their roots in the community and their accountability to local people.
Some of Germany's local banks for example are co-operatives and many are owned and run by local authorities.
Recently I spoke in favour of launching a campaign urging local councils to create banking facilities to improve access to finance for small companies.
Local authorities, who do not need Financial Services Authority approval to make loans or accept deposits, are in a good position to appreciate the credit needs of their local community in a way which modern banks cannot.
They also have local and regional distribution.
Municipal banks could be set up with as little as 20 million pounds and would become self-funding, lending on commercial terms but with decisions made locally instead of by centralised credit teams.
To be a good lender you need a three-dimensional view of every client and understanding of the community you serve. Decisions should be about people rather than market segments
So where would the money come from? My answer is any money left after bidding rounds for the Regional Growth Fund, which is intended to invest in areas hit by public spending cuts, could be deployed to create local banks.
Afterall, starting four local banks would cost less than 100 million pounds, a tiny amount when you consider the money disbursed by other Government initiatives.
Some people will be wary of local authority involvement in banking and a previous attempt to revive council banking in Essex was wound up last year after lending just £535,000.
That didn't work because it was a short-term scheme in partnership with a commercial lender. This would be wholly different. People will say their local authorities shouldn't be involved in banking but it happens successfully in Germany.
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