Posted on 25.11.2013, by Rob Warlow
Latest figures released by the government show that bank lending made through the Enterprise Finance Guarantee Scheme (EFG) has again increased with lending reaching its highest level since 2010.
The figures reveal that banks offered loans worth £111 million to SMEs in the third quarter of 2013 compared to £96m in the second quarter. In terms of loans actually drawn down during this quarter businesses accessed £87m, a slight increase on the £84m lent out in the second quarter.
EFG is a scheme which allows banks to lend to SMEs who would otherwise not receive credit, by providing the banks with a government guarantee for 75 per cent of the loan value. Since May 2010, over 13,400 SMEs have been offered EFG loans with a total value of nearly £1.4 billion.
EFG is offered through 42 finance providers but in the third quarter figures Barclays Bank in particular was praised by consistently offering increased EFG lending since 2012. In the last quarter, Barclays offered nearly twice as much in loans to businesses compared to the same period last year, despite the number of loans offered only increasing slightly.
The increased usage has come off the back of Business Minister Michael Fallon writing to the Chief Executives of the five main high street banks in September 2012 to challenge them to increase their EFG lending after lending continued to fall significantly from the peak in 2009. The combination of ‘naming and shaming’ and a pick up in the economy has no doubt contributed to the increase in scheme usage.
You can find out more about EFG and how it works from here: ‘Understanding the Enterprise Finance Guarantee’.
Rob kindly agreed to attend the recent Pontypridd RFC sponsors networking evening and delivered what can only be described as an excellent talk on 5 Tactics to Boost Your Business and Your Profits. He kept the audience engaged throughout and the feedback from everyone was excellent. Rob is very knowledgeable on business and finance and on top of that is a genuine nice guy. We hope to have him back at a future event and I have no hesitation in recommending Rob’s services.
I wanted to thank you for such an insightful, energetic, and entertaining talk at the Kevin Green Wealth event on securing funding and creating a successful plan. It was brilliantly executed and a pleasure to listen to and the ideas I’ve learned are definitely going to help me in going forward.
Further to your recent presentation at LEAD Wales just wanted to say it was very refreshing to see somebody talk passionately and positively about finance, very insightful!
Rob delivered a series of 3 workshops aimed at understanding how finance houses look at finance propositions with the aim for us as a team to deliver more of a bespoke offering to our customer base. The training was delivered to a mixture of staff who work with new businesses start-ups and existing established businesses across Mid & South West Wales. Rob delivered the training with an abundance of passion and has really helped my team look at financial propositions in a different light, many thanks again Rob and I look forward to work with you in the near future.
Hi Rob, it was so interesting and entertaining listening to you at the Kevin Green Wealth Coach Workshop in Reading this weekend! I didnt realise you can find Finance proposals such fun!. Brilliant tips! Thanks.