Credit, Collections & Insolvency News
The UK economy is facing considerable domestic and international headwinds that are set to weigh on growth prospects this year and into next, according to the Confederation of British Industry’s (CBI) latest Economic Forecast. While the economy began 2025 on a strong note, our surveys suggest that underlying activity remains sluggish due to persistently weak…
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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 in April 2025 by 7% compared with the same month in 2024. In the first four months of 2025, new business was 2% higher than in the same period in 2024. The…
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Lending to small businesses by high street banks hit the highest level since 2022, a sixth consecutive quarterly rise in the opening three months of 2025. UK Finance data showed that lenders issued £4.6 billion worth of loans in Quarter 1 (Q1), with this a 14% year-on-year jump. This represents a 14 per cent increase…
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The National Association of Commercial Finance Brokers (NACFB) has welcomed two new Non-Executive Directors to its board. Angela Norman joins as Patron Lender Director, bringing insights from her role at YBS Commercial Mortgages, and William Grove has been appointed as Finance Director, drawing on his experience at In Partnership. Norman is managing director at YBS Commercial…
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The director of two companies which run mobile phone shops across the UK has been handed a two-year suspended sentence, after he fraudulently claimed £150,000 in Covid Bounce Back loans. Zahid Afzal, the director of Phone Bits Ltd and Phones Onn Ltd, had already received Covid loans for both companies legitimately – totalling £52,500 –…
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Latest Office for National Statistics (ONS) data shows that the UK economy shrank by 0.3% in April. This marks a decline on the 0.2% growth recorded in March and is the steepest fall since October 2023. Analysts had forecast a 0.1% decline. The data shows that the services sector contracted by 0.4% while manufacturing dropped…
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A Management Consultant who secured two Covid Bounce Back Loans – totalling £80,000 – having twice significantly overstated his company’s turnover has been disqualified for 11 years. Romain McLean was the sole director of RMC Associates Limited, registered at Kingston Road in Wimbledon. He applied for a £30,000 Covid Bounce Back loan for his business…
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Chancellor Rachel Reeves has delivered her Spending Review, setting out budgets for government departments. Responding to the announcement, Tina McKenzie, Policy Chair of the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB), said “Small businesses will be wondering when they will feel the benefits of today’s Spending Review. It was not the business-focused day they had hoped for. “As spending allocations…
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Business decision-makers are becoming ‘paralysed’ by constant crisis and their excessive caution is limiting growth opportunities, a new report from accountancy and business advisory firm BDO has warned. In total, 84% of international business leaders surveyed as part of BDO’s annual Global Risk Landscape Report 2025 said the global risk landscape is now, more than ever, defined…
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Accountants and Financial Advisers increasingly are seeing clients struggle to pay their fees with a knock on effect on their cashflow, new research from Premium Credit. Nearly nine out of ten (87%) say more clients are struggling to pay their fees and nearly three out of four (74%) expect a rise in the number of…
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The founder of a football betting investment firm has been banned as a director after his company went into administration owing investors more than £10 million. Former television presenter Alan Bentley allowed his Bentley Global (UK) Limited company to obtain more than £1.5 million from investors during late 2019 and the first half of 2020,…
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According to the latest report by the ONS there were 2.76 million jobs in retail in March 2025. The four-quarter average, which smooths out the seasonal variations in hiring, was 2.80 million jobs in March 2025, 93,000 fewer than at the same point last year, and 364,000 fewer than in 2015. On a four-quarter average…
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More than eight in ten small business owners (83%) cite barriers holding their businesses back from growing – and in the Manufacturing (96%) sector the figures have hit a 10-year high – according to new research from Novuna Business Finance. The findings come at a time when the Government is grappling with delivering on its…
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