Credit, Collections & Insolvency News
UK Finance has reported that a loss of confidence resulted in lower SME borrowing in Quarter 4 (Q4) 2022. The report showed that gross lending by the main high street banks totalled £18.4bn over 2022. Due to economic uncertainty and rising interest rates, SMEs were more cautious in the latter half of the year with…
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Bank-to-business lending is forecast to contract 3.8% (net) this year, from net growth of 3.7% in 2022, before returning to growth (of 0.9% net) in 2024 according to research by EY Item Club. UK assets under management are forecast to grow 2.6% this year and 6.5% in 2024, after a projected fall of almost 11%…
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Business investment grew a projected 5.2% in 2022 – leaving it 7% below pre-pandemic levels latest EY ITEM Club research has found. EY ITEM Club now expects business investment to fall of 0.8% this year although weaker business investment is one of the factors likely to slow the recovery from recession. It is predicted that…
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More than half of small businesses are looking to use finance to achieve growth in the coming year (53%) according to new research from Novuna Business Finance. The figures indicate that this is up from 49% this time last year, with hiring new staff found to be the activity most likely to be reliant on…
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New figures released by the Finance & Leasing Association (FLA) show that total asset finance new business (primarily leasing and hire purchase) grew in November 2022 by 12% compared with the same month in 2021. In the eleven months to November 2022, new business was 5% higher than in the same period in 2021. The…
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Trade credit insurance specialist Allianz Trade, business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce payments platform, Two and Santander Corporate & Investment Banking (CIB), have partnered to provide the first global business-to-business (B2B) Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) solution for large multinational corporates. This is the first partnership of its kind. The result is a game changer product for global online…
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Chief Financial Officers (CFOs) at the UK’s biggest businesses say they are less keen to borrow money from banks now than at any point since the financial crisis, according to a new survey by Deloitte. The research found that CFOs rate borrowing as less attractive now than at any time since the financial crisis, with…
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The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) says SMEs are increasingly struggling to secure affordable bank loans, with fewer than half of applications successful in Q3, compared with nearly two-thirds before the pandemic. Two thirds of small firms (66%) plan to make some form of investment in their business by 2024, but under half (49%) feel…
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Latest data from UK Finance has indicated a slowdown in lending to SMEs following a reduction in applications for finance – particularly loans in the previous quarter. It is expected that SMEs’ demand for finance will continue to be muted this year as SMEs become more cautious because of the uncertain year ahead. The figures…
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New figures released by the Finance & Leasing Association (FLA) show that total asset finance new business (primarily leasing and hire purchase) grew in October 2022 by 17% compared with the same month in 2021. In the ten months to October 2022, new business was 5% higher than in the same period in 2021. The…
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Business loans are set to fall by 3.5% in 2023 due to a deteriorating economic outlook according to new research by EY ITEM Club. The research found that the figures where a contrast to 2021, when many UK businesses focused on paying back pandemic debt, whilst this year has seen a return to growth in…
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Financial professionals estimate over £295,000 is lost to invoice fraud per business, every year in the UK, whilst one in five (20%) finance professionals are unaware or unable to even estimate the cost of invoice fraud to their business according to research by Medius. The research found that with mounting pressure on finance teams, they…
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New analysis by UK Finance has indicated that lending to small and medium-sized enterprises SMEs has remained stable in the first half of 2022. The figures shows that gross lending to SMEs edged up higher to £5.1 billion in the second quarter of 2022, with demand for overdraft facilities remaining stable following a rise in…
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