Credit, Collections & Insolvency News
UK Finance’s latest Business Finance Review figures have shown that gross lending to small and medium-sized businesses across the UK totalled £63.6 billion last year, some 162% higher than 2019. This underscores a significant rise in demand for finance as businesses responded to the pandemic. Government-backed lending schemes, alongside other loan and overdraft facilities, have…
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Up to 58% of SMEs in need could be excluded from Recovery Loan Scheme according to research by Purbeck Personal Guarantee Insurance. The company warns that many SMEs could find themselves excluded from the Recovery Loan Scheme, with little option other than to access finance through personal guarantee backed loans – putting their home and…
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Latest figures from the Centre for Retail Research figures have shown that almost 190,000 jobs have been lost in the retail sector since shops were forced to close under the first coronavirus lockdown in March 2020. The analysis shows that between 23rd March last year and 31st March this year, that 188,685 retail jobs have…
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The coronavirus pandemic and Brexit are the biggest challenges that could cause unprecedented disruption this year for supply chain professionals, according to a study from commercial data and analytics provider, Dun & Bradstreet. The Resilient Supply Chain report surveyed over 500 supply chain professionals in the UK and found almost three-quarters (72%) of respondents expect…
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A new government-backed loan scheme launches to provide additional finance to those businesses that need it. The scheme is offering loans of as much as 10 million pounds to businesses, the Treasury said. The government is providing an 80% guarantee for all loans, and interest rates have been capped at 14.99% — though they’re expected…
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Bounce Back Loan Scheme (BBLS) fraud, where companies apply for multiple government-backed loans to exceed lending caps, could be far lower than anticipated and points to the success of the scheme and creditor checks, according to data from the latest Equifax Market Pulse series. Previous estimates of how much the BBLS could lose to fraud…
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The impact of the pandemic is exacerbating late payments, with new data indicating that almost half (48%) of organisations in the UK have seen late payments increase substantially since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. New data from cloud-based credit management platform, Know-it highlights that late payments remain an ever-present challenge for business owners, damaging cash flow,…
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The latest Lloyds Business Barometer shows that the vaccine rollout has helped drive business confidence to its highest point in a year. The analysis shows that overall UK business confidence rose for a second consecutive month in March. Firms’ confidence increased by 13 points to 15%, the highest reading since February 2020, before coronavirus was…
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The planned reopening of the economy and the Budget has boosted business spirits, the Institute of Director’s (Io D) latest Confidence Tracker has revealed. The report has found that Directors’ optimism in the economy is at its highest since just after the 2019 General Election, moving further into positive territory since February (+14, up from…
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Despite nearly three million consumers using open banking services and the recent news that HMRC has now adopted Open Banking payments, many businesses are holding back from implementing the technology due to concerns around the cost of storing and protecting customer data, seemingly unaware of the option to partner with established service providers that can…
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A new broker index has identified cash flow as a key reason for SMEs applying for finance. iwoca’s new SME Index, which covers a four-week period in January has revealed that 41% of brokers said the most requested reason for applying for unsecured finance was to ‘manage the day to day cash flows’. One in…
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A new study shows UK banks have lent around £29.3bn more to businesses over the past year. This compares with a 5.3% jump in lending in the EU on average. UK bank lending also surpassed Germany (7%) and Spain (3%). UK banks have managed to increase lending by 8% since the start of the Covid-19…
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Latest Government figures have shown that the banking and finance industry has provided more than £75 billion in finance to over 1.6 million UK businesses through government-backed coronavirus lending schemes according to newly published HM Treasury data. Lenders have provided finance to over 30,600 businesses through Bounce Back Loans over the past month, bringing the…
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