The Treasury has announced extensions of its business loan guarantee schemes until the end of March. These had been due to close at the end of January. The new round of funding from the Treasury covers the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme, the Bounce-Back Loans Scheme and the Coronavirus Large Business Interruption Loan Scheme. Bounce-back…
Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee has today has published a report into the Bounce Back Loan Scheme (BBLS) set up to help businesses at the height of the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic. The new report contains six key findings: The Government was not sufficiently prepared to support micro-businesses despite the economic impact of the pandemic being a known risk…
Latest HM Treasury figures have revealed that nearly 1.5 million businesses across the country are now supported by the UK’s banking and finance industry with a total of £65.5 billion in lending through government-backed Coronavirus lending schemes. Almost 1.4 million smaller businesses have now accessed financing as part of the Bounce Back Loan Scheme, with…
Invoice finance provider and fintech firm Optimum Finance has appointed two regional Sales Directors across three UK regions alongside the promotion of Lynn-Marie Jameson to Commercial Director. Kelvin Thomas joins the business as Regional Sales Director for Wales and the West and Iain Hendry as regional Sales Director for the South East. Thomas and Hendry…
The Covid-19 pandemic will cause firms to borrow over five times the amount in 2020 than in 2019, with many unlikely to start repaying until 2022 with total stock of bank lending to businesses forecast to close 2020 at £493bn, an 11% year on year increase, due to firms borrowing heavily through the pandemic. EY…
The British Business Bank has published Future Fund data that gives a detailed picture of the 745 companies that have been approved for £770.8m worth of Convertible Loan Agreements since the scheme was launched on 20th May. There have been 1,243 applications in total since the scheme was launched. The data reveals, 42% of funding…
An analysis of the government loan scheme for struggling small businesses by the National Audit Office (NAO) has suggested that criminals could have stolen more than £1.9 billion from taxpayers. The report also found that the Bounce Back Loan Scheme succeeded in quickly supporting small businesses, but the government faces a potential loss of £15…
Latest figures from UK Finance have indicated that gross lending of £34.5 billion in the second quarter was, in a single quarter, 50 percent more than the annual total in 2019. Figures also showed that ,more than a million businesses had applications approved for finance under Government schemes by the end of June. Un-utilised overdraft…
A fully-charged fintech sector can drive SME growth after Bounce Back Loan scheme closes according to business lender Iwoca. The CEO of the business lender has outlined the need for the fintech industry to be strengthened so it can support the growth of small and micro-businesses after the Bounce Back Loan scheme closes at the…
Over £100 billion in support from banks and the government has been received by UK firms through coronavirus stimulus initiatives, with lenders distributing more than £58 billion and companies claiming £39.3 billion under the furlough schem. Figures from HM Treasury published today reveal that UK lenders have supported over 1.33 million businesses across the country…