Despite many reasons for small businesses to feel uncertain about prospects, we open this Bulletin with a review of the latest Business Barometer Report from Hitachi Capital which reveals that business confidence has remained steady over the last 12 months.

One source of finance which continues to see growth is Asset Finance. Figures released by the Finance and Leasing Association shows strong growth in the use of Asset Finance in 2017 with certain types of asset purchases leading the way.

To close the Bulletin, we share news that Marketinvoice, the online invoice discounter, has announced a tie-up with trade credit insurance provider Euler Hermes. The partnership will benefit those Marketinvoice clients who wish to protect themselves against non-payment of discounted invoices.

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In this week’s Business Finance Bulletin news from crowdlender Ratesetter on the formal launch of its small business loan product which, in the pilot stage, has already seen £250m distributed to UK SMEs.

Staying with alternative finance we look at results from Close Bros latest quarterly Business Barometer which reveals that a significant number of businesses believe that alternative finance can help grow their business.

Turning to traditional finance, we have news from Barclays Bank on a new fund to support lending to small businesses in Scotland.

To close we have insights from Max Woodman of Catalyst Finance on how their Selective Invoice Discounting service can help alleviate cashflow problems.

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.