The decision does not affect the banks’ residential mortgage lending.
A spokesman for the lenders, which are owned by National Australia Bank, said that the decision to halt new commercial lending would not affect cases already in the pipeline.
In a statement, the banks said: “While our new lending to businesses increased by over £7bn in the past two years, we have been clear for some time about our reduced appetite for new commercial property lending and have sensibly introduced tighter controls in this area.
“Many commercial property businesses have elected not to extend their borrowing during the protracted economic uncertainty, we continue to provide support for existing customers.”
David Whittaker, managing director of Mortgages for Business, said: “Clydesdale and Yorkshire banks have not been active in the commercial market in the last year. This is an overstatement for what people have known for a long time and they are just tidying up their loan book.
“The question is how much of the book are they going to squeeze and how many customers will be pushed out?”
