Credit, Collections & Insolvency News
In the run-up to Christmas, new data from leading insolvency firm, Begbies Traynor, has revealed the full impact of the Covid-19 crisis and tough trading conditions, which shows that 39,232 retailers, including both online and bricks and mortar stores, are now in significant financial distress. This figure from Q4 2020 (1st October – 9th December)…
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Accountants have been increasingly successful in persuading SMEs to re-forecast their financial performance in the second half of 2020, according to the year-end results of the ACCA and The Corporate Finance Network (The CFN) SME Recovery Tracker. As the year draws to a close, the tracker results have shown consistently high levels of stress and…
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Shawbrook Bank, a specialist lender to UK SMEs, has announced that it has completed an acquisition of RateSetter’s peer-to-peer funded development finance business with facilities totalling £167 million. The addition of the RateSetter business including the associated loan portfolio will add more than 100 new active clients to Shawbrook’s existing Development Finance customer base. The…
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Office for National Statistics (ONS) survey data has indicated that over one in four (27.9%) of UK pub and bar operators have fears that their business would fail even before the latest coronavirus lockdown restrictions were announced. Meanwhile, less than one in five (19.1%) of responding pub and bar businesses had high confidence in surviving…
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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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New figures from the Insolvency Service have shown that business insolvencies in England and Wales increased by 4% in November 2020, with 889 business insolvencies in November 2020 compared to October’s figure of 862, and were 41% lower than November 2019’s figure of 1,512. However, business insolvencies in November 2020 fell by 41% compared with…
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Scottish business insolvencies in November 2020 fell by almost half compared with November 2019 numbers. The figures released by Accountant in Bankruptcy (AIB), Scotland’s Insolvency Service which administers company liquidations and receiverships in Scotland showed that in November 2020 there were 46 company insolvencies in Scotland, a reduction of 47% in comparison to November 2019.…
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Northern Irish personal insolvencies decreased by two thirds according to the latest Insolvency Service figures. Personal insolvencies numbers in November 2020 fell by two-thirds compared with November 2019. There were 91 personal insolvencies down 68% from November 2019; this consisted of 52 IVAs, 17 DROs and 22 bankruptcies. Company insolvencies in November 2020 fell by…
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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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Fraud specialist, Cifas has warned organisations to protect themselves against the risk of internal fraud and theft over the busy Christmas period. During this time, many organisations hire temporary staff to cope with increased demand, particularly in the retail, warehousing, and delivery sectors, meaning organisations need to ensure they are taking steps to guard against…
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New research produced by the Open Banking Implementation Entity (OBIE), together with Ipsos MORI shows that since the start of the pandemic, the UK’s small business community is increasingly utilising the services offered by open banking providers as they look to future-proof their business operations (50% of those surveyed). Improved resilience: Of those who had leveraged…
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