Credit, Collections & Insolvency News
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…
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New figures published by HM Treasury has shown that over 1.5 million businesses across the country are supported by the UK’s banking and finance industry with a total of over £68 billion in lending through government-backed coronavirus lending schemes. Over 34,500 small and micro businesses have accessed a Bounce Back Loan over the past month,…
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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…
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The Government is planning to launch a replacement for the Covid loans programme with new state-backed guarantees to support lending by banks to SMEs.. Under plans still being finalised, the new Government scheme could guarantee up to 80 per cent of loans of up to £10 million for businesses that are deemed viable but unable…
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61% of consumers are worried that the high street as we know it is at risk of disappearing, with store closures permanently changing the retail landscape, according to research by KIS Finance. The company says that with the news of the collapse of the Arcadia Group, Debenhams and Bonmarche hitting the headlines, the future of…
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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) fell by 14% in October 2020 compared with the same month in 2019. In the ten months to October 2020, new business was 26% lower than in the same period in 2019. The…
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Shopping with small and local businesses has never been more important with almost one-third (31%) of the UK’s SMEs relying on the Christmas period to help them survive, according to new research released by Nucleus Commercial Finance. The research found that one in five (20%) SMEs are anticipating a challenging Christmas trading period – comprising…
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Independent specialist finance provider to UK businesses 1pm plc, has announced that it has changed its name to Time Finance plc and that all companies within the Aim listed 1pm Group will be renamed under the Time Finance brand. The rebranding reflects the evolution of the business over a number of years, culminating in the recent…
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Global technology commercial banking and financial services provider Trade Ledger has announced that Bibby Financial Services (BFS), a global SME financier, has adopted the company’s origination platform to streamline customer onboarding and operational processes. Trade Ledger’s Lending-as-a-Service Platform allows funders to re-imagine business finance for the digital era, using cloud-native technologies, open banking APIs, and…
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A new report from the Hospitality and Tourism APPG has highlighted the acute impact of the COVID-19 crisis on businesses in the UK’s coastal and lakeside communities. The Coasts and Waters report shows that the impact of the crisis has been more pronounced on coastal and lakeside regions due to their reliance on tourism, which generates 50%…
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Following a concentrated period of uncertainty, new research from Hitachi Capital Business Finance found a significant proportion of small businesses are considering finance to enact their plans for 2021, as confidence gradually returns. Looking ahead to 2021, just over half (56%) of small business owners said they were considering taking finance for some of the…
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The demand for the government-backed CBILS loans is set to soar by UK businesses as their Bounce Back Loans dwindle and cash flow dries up, according to the latest MarketFinance business insights. The company says that of the businesses that applied for a Bounce Back loan (up to £50k) during the summer, they now have…
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Sir Philip Green’s Arcadio retail group is on the brink of collapse with around 15,000 jobs at risk. The Arcadia Group, which runs the Topshop, Dorothy Perkins and Burton brands, is expected to appoint Deloitte as administrators within days. The group has more than 500 retail stores across the UK with the majority of these…
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