A new report by the Treasury Committee has found that the Government’s failure to act to tackle declining cash acceptance could lead to a two-tier society, with the most vulnerable bearing the cost. The Committee heard directly from vulnerable groups, including people with learning disabilities, domestic abuse victims and the elderly, that buying essential goods…
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A director who secured maximum-value Covid loans for three dormant companies and overstated his turnover to secure a fourth during the pandemic has been jailed. Ricky Harrison received a total of £200,000 in Bounce Back Loans during 2020, when he was entitled to just £16,000 at most. He also spent the money for personal purposes,…
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Despite an uncertain economy, applications for personal guarantee-backed business loans rose by 9% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2025. This is according to the Q1 2025 Personal Guarantee Insurance (PGI) Monitor from Purbeck Personal Guarantee Insurance, the UK’s only provider of PGI to SMEs. The 9% rise suggests that the appetite for finance remains…
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New research from the Institute of Directors reveals business leaders enthusiasm for productivity gains from AI has been tempered by board-level expertise gaps, reliability concerns and security risks. Nearly half (49%) of UK business leaders whose organisations use AI across any of their functions and processes, with 78% citing increased productivity and operational and administrative…
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The EY ITEM Club has downgraded its GDP growth expectations for 2025 to 0.8%, down from the 1% predicted in February’s Winter Forecast, and has revised its 2026 forecast down from 1.6% to 0.9%. While the start of 2025 appeared to show economic momentum building, the weaker global economy and market uncertainty created by trade disruption are expected…
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International SME financier Bibby Financial Services (BFS) has appointed Mark Holloway as Chief Information and Technology Officer. Holloway joins BFS with over 20 years’ experience in financial services and technology, most recently at Ashman where he was founder member and Chief Technology Officer, having built and scaled the digital start-up from pre-seed, through to multiple…
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Research by Allica Bank has advised that the SME lending market needs a full reboot, with the UK having the lowest business investment rate in the G7. The report highlights how small businesses invest at only a third of the level of large corporate businesses, with a clear link between low levels of SME finance,…
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Secure Trust Bank Commercial Finance (STB CF), the asset-based lending (ABL) arm of Secure Trust Bank, has announced the promotion of Richard Foote to Chief Operating Officer (COO). Foote brings a wealth of experience and a proven track record to the role having been pivotal in STB CF’s growth over the past five years as…
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Northern Ireland has bucked the UK overdue invoice trend as the only UK region or nation to see overdue invoice numbers fall in Q1 2025 when compared to Q1 2024, according to new research from R3, the UK’s insolvency and restructuring trade body. R3’s analysis of data provided by Creditsafe shows there were 187,502 overdue…
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Global asset specialist Gordon Brothers has announced that it has acquired SIA Group, a leading asset valuation, advisory and trading firm. Established in 2003, SIA Group has built a strong reputation and client base by providing innovative asset valuation and sales solutions within the asset-based lending and corporate restructuring industries. The combined team led by…
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The boss of an umbrella company, which failed to pay more than £2.5 million in VAT has been banned as a director. Hubert Omukhulu, failed to accurately declare the amount of VAT Remedy Payroll Solutions Ltd had to pay in 2020 and 2021. The inaccurate returns Remedy Payroll Solutions submitted suggested the company had no…
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Tax compliance costs small businesses nearly £25 billion a year, while three in five small business owners report that dealing with HMRC has increased their personal stress, according to a new report by the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB). The report counts the demands—in terms of stress, time, and financial costs—on small business owners when…
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The owner of a North London tyre shop has been banned as a director for 10 years after overstating his company’s turnover to secure a maximum-value Covid loan. Shkelzen Gashi ran Smart Tyres Services Ltd from his address on Harringay Road from 2015 to 2022. The 53-year-old claimed his company’s turnover was £250,000 when he…
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