Passage Summary: Banks are lending less to small businesses, won't touch risky companies, and aren't making money off the safe ones, so overall lending must be lower than it used to be.

Conclusion: Total bank lending to all companies has decreased compared to five years ago.

Reasoning: Lending to small and medium companies is down, banks refuse to lend to weak companies, and lending to strong companies is currently unprofitable for banks.

Analysis: The economist shows that lending to small/medium companies is down, but the evidence regarding large, strong companies is only about current profitability, not the actual volume of loans. To make the conclusion follow logically, we need to bridge the gap between 'unprofitable' and 'lower volume than five years ago.' Look for an assumption that guarantees that because these loans are currently a bad deal for banks, the total amount of money lent to these large companies is less than it was in the past.