This paper focuses on the determinants of the use of multiple banking relationships by SMEs. We exploit the results of an original survey conducted on a sample of French SMEs in December 2012. We first provide evidence that access to multiple banking relationships is influenced by firms’ characteristics. We find that older, bigger, high-performing and innovative firms are more likely to develop multiple banking relationships. More originally, we also highlight the explanatory power of the quality of banking relationship mainly assessed by the trust on the part of the CEO: when the manager mistrusts its main bank, the firm will be more likely to engage in multiple banking relationships.