Bank lending

We look at the lending criteria and updates from UK banks for small businesses.

News

Business Banking Resolution Service opens doors in November

Business Banking Resolution Service will investigate disputes between high-street banks and SMEs going back to 2001

Small Business Banking

Cashplus plans to lend £400m to small business from next year

Cashplus aims to have a 10pc market share of all new UK business accounts by 2024, with nearly 100,000 business customers already

Small Business Banking

Co-operative Bank to revolutionise small business banking offer

Co-operative Bank plans to bolster its small business banking offer through re-introducing relationship managers, revamping its technology and easing up cash flow facilities

News

Government launches Business Finance Council to help small businesses

Business secretary Andrea Leadsom will co-chair Business Finance Council to help small business access working capital and investment in post-Brexit Britain

Small Business Banking

Barclays rapped by UK watchdog over way it treats small business

Barclays has been censured by UK watchdog over its treatment of small businesses. Bank made smaller firms open account to access other products, says regulator

Outlook

Nationwide wins £50m prize to help boost small business banking

Nationwide wins a £50m grant to help fund its expansion into SME banking, while Investec and Co-Operative Bank also win awards of £15m each

News

Lending to SMEs plummets: 84 per cent of country saw fall over past year

Bank lending has decreased for a huge number of British SMEs, with businesses in central London suffering the most.

Outlook

Business growth stalled by slow bank lending warns market leader

Latest ONS data shows increase of only 0.3 per cent in UK GDP for Q1 2017, the slowest rate of growth since Q1 2016.

Opportunities

£1 billion support package pledged to support UK businesses

Metro Bank has pledged to give both new and existing UK businesses over £1 billion to boost the UK economy.

Outlook

BCC: Merlin figures ‘disappointing’

The British Chamber of Commerce (BCC) has said that banks need to reconsider how they communicate with business customers following today’s ‘disappointing’ lending data.

Small Business Banking

What banks want to see from SMEs

So why aren’t banks lending to small businesses? Rose Lewis, a partner at financial consultancy Pembridge Partners, outlines what banks want to see from SMEs before agreeing to show the money.