This paper, based on financial statement data from about 500 Italian banks in the period between 2006 and 2010, analyses the loans to customers development in Italy by bank size. The research focuses on its evolution over time and on the quality of credit exposures. The aim is to assess the lending policies adopted by Italian banks during the recent financial crisis, by linking the resulting differences also to the bank size and to the characteristics of the intermediation model adopted. The analysis shows that to the heterogeneity emerged in the loans to customers development and in the deterioration of its quality correspond significant differences in the business model in terms of orientation to the funding-lending credit intermediation activity with customers.