Credit, collections & insolvency news
Outstanding bank lending to small businesses in the hospitality sector has fallen by more than £1.4 billion since the end of the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) and Bounce Back Loan Scheme (BBLS). Overall Bank lending dropped to £14.6bn in April 2022, down from £16.08bn in March 2021, according to analysis by Hazlewoods. There…
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UK Finance’s latest Business Finance Review has indicated a gradual return to normal lending trends across SMEs during the first quarter of 2022. The research found a modest uptick in demand for cashflow finance through overdrafts and invoice finance and asset-based lending – as a consequence of both the end of Covid-19 restrictions and the significant…
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New findings from quarterly Small Business Index (SBI) has warned that banks ‘are pulling up the drawbridge’ to small firms will further stifle economic growth as its new SBI study shows successful finance applications plunging over the first quarter of this year. Fewer than one in ten (9%) small firms applied for finance in Q1…
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Nearly one in three (30%) brokers believe the UK SME lending market has returned to levels seen before the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic according to research by Iwoca. Whilst nearly another third (31%) believe the market will return within 6 months, based on the number of loan requests they had each month before the…
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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 February 2022 by 2% compared with the same month in 2021. In the first two months of 2022, new business was 5% higher than in the same period in 2021. The…
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New research by the British Business Bank has indicated that lending to small businesses has returned to pre-pandemic levels. The Small Business Finance Markets Report 2022 found that 2021 was a year of contrast between debt and equity smaller business finance markets. Bank lending returned to pre-pandemic levels while equity investment in smaller businesses reached…
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More than two thirds (67%) of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) globally have been unable to secure sufficient, or any, funding on at least one or more occasions, according to a new report from cloud banking platform Mambu. The ‘Small business, big growth’ report surveyed over 1,000 SME owners globally, who set up their…
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UK net business borrowing is on course to fall sharply over 2021 as firms pay down existing debt far faster than predicted, according to the latest EY ITEM Club for Financial Services Forecast. The forecast estimates that net bank lending to UK businesses will fall to minus £1.6bn over 2021, following £35.5bn net being lent in 2020,…
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UK Finance’s Business Finance Review for Quarter 3 2021 has shown that gross lending to SMEs was around £5.2 billion in Q3 2021, indicating that business lending figures broadly unchanged from the previous quarter. The report Applications for new loans and overdrafts continued to trend down over the quarter – consistent across sectors and regions.…
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Almost half of small businesses across the UK (49%) are relying on securing finance to help them fulfil their growth plans for the year ahead. After three consecutive quarters when small business outlook has remained unchanged (with 34% of business owners predicting growth), the new Business Barometer study from Hitachi Capital Business Finance suggests access…
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Danske Bank has been reprimanded by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) over the treatment of some small businesses applying for Coronavirus Bounce Back loans, having required up to 205 firms to open business accounts to access a loan. The CMA said this meant the firms faced new fees, warning that the practice restricts customer…
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New research by iwoca’s has found that SMEs are turning to the Recovery Loan Scheme as they focus on company growth. The company’s Index reveals that over a third (35%) of brokers reported the top motivator for applying for unsecured finance was to ‘grow the business’ – a 12 percentage point increase from the previous…
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