Purpose – This paper aims to explore how banks have modified their behaviours since the subprime crisis and their influence on credit access for SMEs. Design/methodology/approach – This paper aims to explore how banks have modified their behaviours since the subprime crisis and their influence on credit access for SMEs. Findings – We provide evidence that strategic orientations adopted by banks (both fragile and robust) are quite voluntary and not simply the result of following regulations. Unfortunately, these orientations have hampered SMEs' access to credit. Practical implications – The core result of the paper is to emphasize that banking behaviours have considerably changed just after the subprime crisis and that SMEs have to deal with this new reality. These findings could be of interest for regulators and banking authorities to control liquidity constraints and guarantee both the stability of the global banking system and sustainable economic growth. Originality/value – Using an original data reduction method and balance sheet analysis, this paper found evidence of key changes in banking behaviours during the subprime crisis.