The arguments are well rehearsed about whether the big banks are doing enough to support the mainstay of the UK economy by lending to Britain's small and medium-sized enterprises.
So far the media focus has been on whether state-backed Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) is doing enough.
RBS claims it is doing its best, in spite of continually being attacked by small business groups and the British government, for whom a bit of bank-bashing never did any harm.
Luckily for RBS, the attention is now likely to switch to its rival, Barclays. The bank's head of small businesses, Steve Cooper, said last week that Barclays would not be signing up to any government lending targets, which have not yet even been implemented.
The government has lending targets in place for the taxpayer-backed RBS and Lloyds Banking Group, but in response to a question recently, Vince Cable, the Business Secretary, said that he was considering extending the targets to those banks that have not received direct support.
Cooper said he did not want to be in a position where he was perceived to be leaving the door ajar for those businesses that Barclays had previously refused. He also defended increases in lending rates, which can climb to as high as 20 percent, saying that the banks were facing increased funding costs and tougher capital requirements.
Two weeks ago, Barclays announced that first-half adjusted pretax profits had increased by 22 percent, to £3 billion (R34bn).
Cooper's comments appear to be an opening salvo in what could become something of a scrap with the government.
A spokesman for the Department for Business last week said: "It is crucial for the recovery that small businesses are able to access the finance they need.
"We are exploring all areas, including bank lending. The government is working with the banks and looking to the industry to provide the solutions. If that does not materialise, we will consider other options."
In response, a Barclays spokesman said: "We are not constrained in our lending to smaller business. In fact, we are lending more, so for us the question of targets is not relevant. If we feel it's a viable business and it's responsible to lend, then the business will receive finance from us.
" is why we have lent almost 30 percent of new lending to small businesses this year, far more than our share of total loans, and we're supporting record numbers of start-up businesses." - The Independent