With the Brexit negotiations now officially under way, what happens now for small businesses? In this week’s Business Finance Bulletin, with a degree of uncertainty ahead we look at how businesses and banks will face the future.

One industry which has seen change over the last few years is that of TV production. The Media team at Barclays Bank has announced a new fund designed to alleviate cashflow problems facing production companies with the advent of Streaming Video on Demand.

Finally, we take our monthly look at the latest bank small business lending figures released by the Bank of England. Whilst the most recent figures to February show an increase, overall the trend is in the opposite direction. Why is that?

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We kick-off this week’s Bulletin by sharing a story from a client meeting this week where the business assumed that there would be no funding for them. We look at how many businesses make this mistake and so inadvertently deny themselves the opportunity to grow.

We have news on how TaxAssist Accountants have formed an alliance with Ratesetter, the peer-to-peer lender, to offer clients immediate access to a quick source of working capital and growth finance.

To close the Bulletin, we take our monthly look at how banks are supporting SMEs in terms of loans outstanding. The latest figures from the Bank of England indicate early signs of a shift in attitude amongst small businesses towards borrowing.

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After 18 months in the planning the government’s Bank Referral Scheme has been launched. In this episode of the Business Finance Bulletin we look at how the scheme is designed to improve small business access to finance.

Despite post-Brexit confidence remaining relatively high we take a look at the latest statistics from the Insolvency Service, which reveals an up-tick in the number of businesses going down the insolvency route.

On a more positive note we close the Bulletin looking at news from the Bank of England that bank lending to small businesses continues to rise. We also share news from Crowdcube on how they are supporting a record number of businesses looking to raise finance by selling equity.

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In the latest Business Finance Bulletin, a look at a support package being granted by Santander to charities and community groups raising funds on Crowfunder. The match-funding deal will allow these organisations to further leverage the funds they raise.

Funding Circle have announced an upward movement in the maximum they can lend to certain categories of businesses. We look at how this is a positive move for good quality businesses in search of finance.

Turning to the traditional High Street lenders, we take our monthly look at how much banks are lending to small business owners with the release of the latest Bank of England figures. Is the figure up or down?

If you would prefer to listen to the podcast version you can click below or download to listen to later via our Soundcloud, Stitcher or itunes channel.

We open this Business Finance Bulletin by taking a look at the latest Bank of England statistics on bank lending to small businesses. The figures to the end of July show strong support to SMEs but will this continue post-Brexit?

Bad debts and writing off irrecoverable amounts is not what you want to happen every day but new research reveals that many businesses are being faced with accepting losses on money owed to them.

Alternative finance continues to be a growing source of finance for small businesses and a new survey from Deloittes shows how many businesses are aware of it and intend to use it to fund growth plans. The findings suggest there is scope for improvement.

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In this episode of the Business Finance Bulletin we start off with news of the latest addition to the BLS team, Simon Watts. We will be hearing from Simon in a future Bulletin with his thoughts on obtaining finance from banks.

Access to finance for start ups has always been a challenge and in this episode we look at a milestone reached by the Start Up Loan Company which was established in 2012 to help new businesses get finance.

Increasing competition in the SME finance sector has always been on the government’s radar and as part of its review into this issue the Competition and Markets Authority is advocating an SME finance Price Comparison website. Could it work?

Continuing our look at the findings of the latest SME Finance Monitor Report we look at the gap between business owner’s confidence levels at getting finance and what the actual success rate is after they have applied.

In the Business Finance Tip of the Week Rob shares a lesson learned from three recent client meetings which reveal that banks are indeed waking up.

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In this episode of the Business Finance Bulletin a look at the latest statistics from the Bank of England which reveals the current level of borrowing by UK SMEs.

Also a review of the key findings from the recent SME Finance Monitor Report which includes how many businesses are using external sources of finance, the type of SMEs accessing such finance and the number of businesses who are not borrowing at all.

Marketinvoice, the online invoice discounter, has taken a look at late payment experiences across 80 countries and the results indicate that we have a lot of work to do in the UK to speed up payment.

Are you planning to grow or change your business within the next three months? That’s the question posed to 1,021 businesses by Hitachi Capital as part of its regular British Business Barometer Report and the answer reveals that SMEs are now more cautious than before.

And in the Business Finance Tip of the Week a signpost to a recently posted video which shows you how to calculate and use the Creditor Payment Ratio.

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In this episode of the Business Finance Bulletin Rob Warlow shares details of a new service launched by Aldermore Bank aimed at helping temporary recruitment agencies overcome problems with administration and more importantly cashflow.

More evidence is coming out that business confidence appears to be taking a hit. Rob looks at the latest CBI SME Trends survey which highlights that total orders for domestic and export focused businesses is showing decline.
Turning to bank lending to SMEs Rob reviews statistics released by the Bank of England which reveal that businesses are getting increased support from the banks.

And in the Business Finance Tip of the Week, a clip from an interview in which Rob talks about the importance and usefulness of an Executive Summary when writing a Business Plan for your bank.

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In the latest Business Finance Bulletin episode Business Loan Services’ Rob Warlow looks at Amazon’s entry into the small business lending market by extending loans to businesses operating on its Marketplace.

In the latest figures from the Bank of England Rob looks at the level of support being given by banks to small business with continuing evidence that more finance is going out of the banks’ doors.

If you want to avoid the High Street banks Rob shares news of a new £40m SME fund launched by Enterprise Ventures in conjunction with Santander and the Greater Manchester Pension Fund. The fund seeks to provide loans to businesses across the UK, in all sectors and for a variety of purposes.

In the Business Finance Tip of the Week Rob talks with Rebecca Jones, the Red Shoe Biz Woman, on developing an entrepreneurial mindset amongst your staff.

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