Credit, Collections & Insolvency News
Experian, and other credit reference agencies (CRAs), have confirmed new guidance to protect business credit scores during the Covid-19 pandemic. Lenders can now offer an ‘emergency payment freeze’ to businesses that may be worried about meeting regular payments because of the pandemic. Once agreed, lenders should not report a build-up of arrears to the four…
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Commercial finance provider, Independent Growth Finance (IGF) has appointed Paul Whitaker as Chief Risk and Operating Officer. Whitaker joins IGF after two and a half years at Barclays bank, where he held the position of Head of Business Transformation and Delivery. With the COVID-19 crisis presenting a significant challenge for many UK SMEs, Whitaker joins the business to further assert IGF’s position as a leading alternative…
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Specialist asset-based lender Ultimate Finance has announced the appointment of two Regional Directors to its North West team to support the region through the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond. The company has hired brothers Stuart and John Davies as Regional Directors who between them have a combined 23 years of experience in the asset-based lending space…
Read moreA third of UK SMEs will be unable to cover their costs by the end of July despite an unprecedented £330bn package of loans and guarantees from the Government, according to the latest research from Bibby Financial Services (BFS). The new study of SMEs shows this number rising to more than half should the lockdown…
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Small business loans platform, Funding Circle has been approved for accreditation by the British Business Bank under the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS), term loan variant. Funding Circle expects to open CBILS applications within the next week once it has completed the required legal and operational approvals with the Bank. Keith Morgan, CEO, British…
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Latest Red Flag Alert data for Q1 2020 found there were large numbers of UK businesses experiencing significant financial distress at the end of March 2020, with the overall figure now exceeding half a million for the first time. New research from insolvency and advisory Begbies Traynor Group, has found that the largest quarterly increase…
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New research from Intuit QuickBooks, has indicated that the majority (71%) of SMEs have not yet taken any action to address financial stability. The findings are echoed comments from Minister for Small Business Paul Scully who has urged small business owners to go back to their banks if they were originally put off by the…
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The Chancellor of the Exchequer today announced details of the Coronavirus Large Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CLBILS).. The new scheme will be delivered by lenders accredited by the British Business Bank, the new scheme provides finance to mid-sized and larger UK businesses with turnover above £45m (the upper limit for the existing smaller-business focused CBILS).…
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UK Finance has announced that a total of £1.1 billion in coronavirus support funding has been loaned to 6,020 SMEs so far. The total proportion of firms receiving payouts is less than one in four of those who made a claim, with 28,460 applications submitted. Analysis shows that just 2.6% of the money available has…
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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 7% in February 2020 compared with the same month in 2019. The IT equipment finance and plant and machinery finance sectors reported new business up in February 2020 by 10% and…
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The British Business Bank has announced that it has approved four new lenders for accreditation under the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) – The Co-operative Bank, Cynergy Bank, OakNorth Bank and Starling Bank. Following their approval, each lender will be putting in place the operations required to start lending under the scheme and will…
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The Finance Leasing Association (FLA) has called on the Government and the Bank of England to take urgent action to support the non-bank lending market. New figures to be released next week by the FLA will show that FLA members provided almost £141 billion of new business in the twelve months to February 2020, 2%…
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UK manufacturers are facing a precarious future according to insights1 from fintech business lender MarketFinance. Over two thirds (68%) reported their order books have halved in the last 30 days. To compound matters, the majority (67%) have less than £50,000 cash and without any support will run out of money before the end of the…
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