IF the new year was meant to herald a new beginning for business, the sector has been seriously disappointed.

Floods and cyclones be damned, the string of natural disasters has done nothing to quell the growing impatience of lenders who are increasingly and vigorously pursuing directors and businesses for breaches of loan covenants.

Just ask Oaks Hotels and Resorts founder Brett Pointon, who was last month stripped of the bulk of his fortune when the ANZ forced $200 million of his personal investment portfolio into receivership.

The Sunshine Coast-based businessman was caught out by what he politely referred to as changes in "banking credit philosophy".

The 48-year-old told The Courier-Mail his company was forging ahead but admitted it had been hamstrung by those changes which included a re-evaluation of investments after loans had previously been secured against an asset.

Late last year BOS International, a division of Lloyds Banking, took control of nearly $1 billion in assets owned by the Nikiforides family, including the new luxury Oracle development on the Gold Coast.

Other developers complain the benchmark for pre-sale just to get approval is ridiculously high in the housing market.

Countless other companies, regardless of size, have been forced to reduce their debt in an extremely tight timeframe or risk losing control.

Local honey producer Capilano revealed the pressure its former banker placed on it when it was told to reduce its debt from $28 million to $18 million or face the forced sale of its property assets.

In Capilano's 2010 annual report, chairman Trevor Morgan outlined the pressure on the company.

"A review of our banking facilities by our bankers started a process requiring Capilano to reduce debt levels, in the first instance, by conducting a capital raising. In the event that insufficient funds were raised, the bank directed that Capilano would have to sell its land and buildings to be applied to its bank debt," he wrote.

While they were ultimately successful in reducing debt, the company has had to wind back potentially lucrative overseas markets, sell key investments and use cash flow to fund the process.

One other manufacturer, which wished to remain anonymous, said its bank had demanded a $40 million reduction in debt despite never missing a repayment, but even when you are in receivership and looking to bail yourself out, the banks can still go for the jugular.

Westpac appointed receivers and managers to a planned $600 million Woolloongabba development by local developer Paul Cunningham in early 2010 after he failed to secure DA approvals.

In an attempt to repay the debt, Mr Cunningham attempted to sell two parcels of the land to his wife for $6.5 million but that move was opposed by the bank, which argued it could not be sold to a related party.

In the Federal Court, Mr Cunningham alleged the bank wanted to keep the site as a single parcel to sell to another buyer for $23.3 million, less than half its value in 2007. He lost the case and was ordered to pay more than $31 million to the bank.

Liquidator Paul Sweeney, of SV Partners, said his understanding was the banks were having some forthright discussions with some companies. "From what I understand they are talking frankly to people who can't afford on an ongoing basis the borrowings they've got," Mr Sweeney said.

He said there were still troubles ahead. "One area of concern I have is, post-floods, what is going to happen to businesses who look for funds to rebuild," he said.

"As an example, one businessman I spoke to had gone to the bank to borrow money to get repairs done on his property.

"They said 'no and by the way, your assets would have dropped substantially now, so we have to work out how you are going to sort out your debts'."

Overall, Mr Sweeney said his experience was the banks were still willing to work with businesses who were "co-operating".

"My experience has been that where the bank's customer has been co-operative with the bank, they have taken a relatively sensible view to dealing with the residual debt ... that is, they are not pursuing them for bankruptcy," he said.

Others said regardless of the banks, it was just a terrible time to do business.

Veteran of the Queensland business world, Kevin Seymour, had a good year last year, with his wealth climbing by around $29 million thanks to the performance of big shareholdings including Watpac and Tatts, but the financial downturn means he has not done any development for two-and-a-half years and says: "It's the first time in my 40 years that there's no light at the end of the tunnel."

It is the cost of financing that is keeping his natural instincts at bay.

Despite a 213 per cent increase in sales in the 2009-10 year, profits fell by 3 per cent because of the cost of financing from the banks, according to the Seymour Group's latest annual report.

"And it hasn't got any better in the first half of this year."