New figures released by the Finance & Leasing Association (FLA) show that total asset finance new business (primarily leasing and hire purchase) grew in April 2024 by 31% compared with the same month in 2023. In the first four months of 2024, new business was 7% higher than in the same period in 2023. The…
Read moreThe Government has launched a new HMRC fraud and error taskforce in a bid to recover overpayments made to UK taxpayers during the pandemic. The £100 million Taxpayer Protection Taskforce of 1,200 HMRC staff will combat fraud and aims to recover up to £1.5 billion from fraudulent or incorrect payments for the 2022/23 financial year.…
Read moreHigher interest rates will cost British businesses an additional £4.7 billion a year for the rest of the decade – and much of this cost will be pushed onto consumers, according to a new study by management consultancy Baringa. Baringa believes companies are experiencing the largest such hike in debt-related costs ever faced by the…
Read moreA survey by online credit provider iwoca shows that SMEs believe big banks will further reduce funding for small businesses. The poll shows that nearly eight in ten brokers (77%) believe that high street banks are scaling back their willingness to fund small and medium-sized businesses, according to iwoca’s latest Q1 2024 SME Expert Index.…
Read moreLatest analysis of applications for personal guarantee insurance in Q1 2024 by Purbeck Personal Guarantee Insurance has shown that there has been a 49% rise in business owners seeking Personal Guarantee Insurance (PGI) for a small business loan with most of these were for loans to simply keep their business running. Purbeck Personal Guarantee Insurance…
Read moreThree in ten SME finance experts (28%) report that the most requested loan amount at the start of 2024 was over £100,000, 56% higher than the same period last year, according to iwoca’s Q1 2024 SME Expert Index. The new research showed that seven in ten (70%) brokers are optimistic about SMEs prospects in 2024,…
Read moreNew research conducted this week by business lender Together has found that over a third (35%) of SME business leaders strongly believe that ensuring access to finance for the country’s wealth creators should be prioritised by the government within the first six months of the new parliament. A third (33%) of this group – which…
Read moreNew data from Iwoca has shown that three in every ten (29%) small business owners in the UK have received financial backing from a family member – with three-quarters (74%) saying it was essential for setting up their business. Over a third (36%) said they had received more than £25,000 from their relatives, with a…
Read moreAsset finance solutions provider, Time Finance has announced the launch of its new ID&V (Identity Verification) technology in partnership with Nivo Solutions. The technology provided by Nivo also includes E-signature functionality. Enabling Time Finance to increase its E-signature document limit from £100k to £250k. Speaking of the partnership and the technology Time Finance has adopted,…
Read moreResearch from independent SME funder Bibby Financial Services (BFS) has found that women business leaders are facing gender inequality in commercial lending, which is hampering the growth ambitions of many SMEs. Data from BFS’s latest SME Confidence Tracker, which surveyed 1,000 UK SMEs, uncovered that two thirds (66%) of women business leaders believe that banks…
Read moreNew figures released by the Finance & Leasing Association (FLA) show that total asset finance new business (primarily leasing and hire purchase) fell in March 2024 by 10% compared with the same month in 2023. In Q1 2024 as a whole, new business was at a similar level to Q1 2023. The business new car…
Read moreCommercial finance lending software specialist, Dancerace has announced it has launched a new risk system for invoice finances providers. The new system is called r3 RiskOps which enables risk and operational teams to better manage client risk and work more efficiently. The system comes to market having already been deployed by Skipton Business Finance in the…
Read moreThe EY Item Club has forecasted bank-to-business lending will to grow just 0.5% (net) this year, before rising to 2.8% (net) in 2025, as lower borrowing costs boost demand The analysis says lending to UK businesses will increase by 0.5% this year, having contracted by 2.1% in 2023. Looking ahead, growth in business lending is…
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