Credit, Collections & Insolvency News
The Lending Standards Board (LSB) is developing a first-of-its-kind inclusive Code to drive essential improvements in access to finance for Ethnic Minority-Led Businesses (EMBs). The Code’s development follows the publication of the LSB’s 2023 report on the barriers to finance faced by EMBs, which also underscored the crucial role that financial institutions can play in…
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Ahead of a ‘painful’ Budget expected this autumn, new research from independent SME funder Bibby Financial Services (BFS) reveals that UK SMEs consider tax incentives and access to finance as two critical areas that need to be addressed by the Government to unlock growth. Data from BFS’s Q3 2024 SME Confidence Tracker, which surveyed 1,000…
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The Intellectual Property Office (IPO) has issued a fresh warning to customers to beware of misleading requests for payments, sent by unsolicited organisations. These typically take the form of invoices requesting payment for trade marks, designs, or patents services. Such ‘services’ – once paid for – may simply never be provided, or may be of little…
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The Lending Standards Board (LSB) has announced that it has strengthened provisions on personal guarantees within the Standards of Lending Practice for business customers (‘the business Standards’). The changes will help ensure lenders are clear with guarantors about what they are signing up to, and help avoid situations where a guarantor is surprised to find…
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Ahead of the Autumn Budget, the Institute of Directors has written to the Chancellor of the Exchequer summarising the policy changes that it believes would have the greatest positive impact on the rate of sustainable economic growth in the UK. In its Budget submission, the IoD has set out key recommendations for the Chancellor in the following…
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The British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) has warned that the UK economy is set to grow at a slower pace, with gross domestic product (GDP) expected to decline to 0.4% in the third quarter and 0.2% in the final quarter of the year. The BCC expects the UK economy to grow by 1.1% for 2024,…
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The sole director of a data processing and equipment sourcing business has been disqualified for the maximum period allowed under law after obtaining £145,000 in Covid support scheme funds his business was not entitled to. Richard Oliver was the director of Exact Data Trading Co. Ltd when it falsely secured a total of £95,000 from…
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A London taxi driver hit with 11-year sanctions after falsely claiming £100,000 of Bounce Back Loans and failed to spend the money on his businesses. The investigation found that Ahmad claimed £50,000 for his delivery business in July 2020, the maximum allowed under the scheme. He applied for a second £50,000 loan – this time…
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A Derby-based business consultant who fraudulently obtained two Covid loans worth a combined £100,000 has been handed a suspended sentence. Imran Mushtaq was the sole director of IZ Business Consultants Limited when he applied for two Bounce Back Loans for the company in June 2020. Mushtaq was sentenced to 20 months in prison, suspended for…
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The UK’s inflation rate has risen for the first time this year as annualised inflation came in at 2.2% in July, higher than the 2.0% reported in June. Core CPI (excluding energy, food, alcohol and tobacco) rose by 3.3% (down from 3.5%) and services inflation fell from 5.7% to 5.2%. Commenting on the inflation figures,…
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A construction contractor has been banned as company director after Covid loan abuse. An Insolvency Service investigation found that Nick Addison submitted misleading information to obtain a £50,000 Bounce Back Loan, the maximum amount businesses were entitled to. Addison was the owner of a former Bedfordshire construction firm which mainly focused on dry lining and…
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A Bristol builder who overstated the income from his construction companies to secure two Covid Bounce Back Loans totalling £100,000 has been handed a suspended sentence. James Leslie was sentenced to two years in prison, suspended for 18 months, when he appeared at Bristol Crown Court. His father William Leslie and of the same address,…
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A new paper geared at unleashing a new wave of small business exporters has been released by the Government. The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) was asked to lead on an SME Export Taskforce by Jonathan Reynolds MP when he was Shadow Business and Trade Secretary, to address the fact that only 10 per cent…
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