Major trading banks have backed out of a proposal aimed at helping save jobs.
A fund for struggling businesses was one of 20 proposals mooted at a job summit in February.
The banks and the Government were to create the fund, for companies squeezed by the recession.
Australian-owned banks and Kiwibank asked for more detail on how it would work before committing. They have now decided not to do so.
Rob Cameron, who heads the summit's business funding group, says it's the banks' view that the best way to save jobs is to keep lending.
However, he says some specialist financial institutions, whom he would not name just yet, are looking at filling the funding gap.
