ANZ's growth-challenged lending operations could come under further pressure this year as uncompetitive pricing on small business loans drives borrowers to other lenders.Comparison shopping site Mozo has identified ANZ as the most expensive provider of SME loans among the banks, raising the prospect of further market share losses this year.The bank is already under pressure to lift lending volumes after posting only a 1 per cent rise in home loan activity for the 12 months to the end of December.While several broking analysts have pinned their hopes on the bank expanding its SME book, ANZ's advertised business lending rates suggest it will struggle to boost volumes in the increasingly competitive market segment.ANZ is marketing business loans secured by residential property at 6.6 per cent in NSW and Victoria, but lenders such as Suncorp, IMB and Bank of Queensland are promoting secured credit for SMEs at well under 5 per cent.According to Mozo, Suncorp is the price leader in SME lending, with a secured loan offer of 4.44 per cent. IMB offers the second-best priced business loan at 4.59 per cent.The only major bank-owned brand that is lending under 5 per cent is CBA's Bankwest subsidiary that is promoting secured business credit at 4.7 per cent.While ANZ's current pricing looks extremely uncompetitive, an historical analysis of business loan pricing by Mozo indicates that regional and mutual banks are increasingly the cheapest sources of business credit than the major banks.The Mozo study found that over the past five years challenger banks lowered their business loan rates by an average of 141 basis points, while the four major bank brands cut by an average of only 57 bps.The average rate on secured business loans marketed by challenger banks now stands at 5.19 per cent, whereas the average for the flagship brands of the Big Four is 6.07 per cent.Mozo's senior banking analyst, Peter Marshall, questions the pricing tactics of the major banks when the business loans are underpinned by residential property."It's hard to understand why the majors are pricing so much higher than the regional and customer-owned banks on secured lending," he said."I don't see any reason why it can't be closer to a prime mortgage rate when the security is provided by the borrower."According to the Mozo database, the major banks are offering borrowers in NSW the following rates on a $350,000 business loan secured by a residential property:NAB - 5.36 per centCBA - 5.73 per centWestpac - 6.57 per centANZ - 6.60 per centMarshall said the failure of the major banks to effectively compete on business loan rates is yet another example of how little pressure they feel in the banking market."Much like residential mortgages, the Big Four banks are giving their customers a bad deal on interest rates yet they still account for 70 per cent of business loans issued," he said."Our analysis has found many challenger banks have cut rates beyond the official cash rate and the gap between the average rate offered by the challenger banks and the