In this episode of the Business Finance Bulletin a look at Atom Bank, a new online-only bank which has announced that it is now targeting small businesses following approval of its SME lending service.

Back to the traditional High Street banks, Lloyds Bank has announced the launch of it 2016 SME Charter. Their pledges include support for new businesses wishing to start exporting and targets in terms of lending to small businesses.

Recent Bulletins have featured surveys reporting that small business confidence is on the wane but in this Bulletin we share positive findings from the latest Bibby Financial Services SME Confidence Tracker, which counter previous negativity.

In the Business Finance Tip of the Week, we look at what overtrading is and how you can tackle it.

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In the latest episode of the Business Finance Bulletin, news from Santander on its collaboration with online lending platform Kabbage. The alliance will allow Santander’s small business customers to apply for loans online to speed up the lending process and is a nod to the success of the online lending revolution.

The government’s plan to help alternative finance providers has been boosted by banks now being required to share borrower credit information with three credit reference agencies. This increased transparency will allow alternative lenders to make more informed decisions when supporting small businesses.

The asset-based finance industry continues to go from strength to strength with the latest figures from the Asset Based Finance Association showing continued growth in 2015.

In the Business Finance Tip of the Week, why you should be negotiating with your suppliers to ensure you get the best deal and tips from negotiation expert Derek Arden on negotiating with your bank.

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In the latest episode of the Business Finance Bulletin a look at the latest statistics from the Bank of England on how much money UK businesses are borrowing from banks. Once again it’s small businesses which are coming out on top.

There’s news of a partnership between Barclays Bank and the UK Business Angels Association with the announcement of mentorship and growth advice service for High Growth businesses based in Birmingham.

Efforts to tackle late payment have been high on the UK government’s agenda but in an ironic twist of fate the government is now late in launching a ‘name and shame’ programme promised as part of the Small Business Enterprise Act.

With HMRC looking for every penny it can lay its hands on we share a warning from accountancy firm UHY Hacker Young that small businesses are vulnerable to coming under HMRC scrutiny.

In the Business Finance Tip of the Week, a question you should ask your bank manager if they have said ‘no’ to your finance request.

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.

In the latest episode of the Business Finance Bulletin we review the most recent quarterly survey from the Federation of Small Businesses. The report reveals falling confidence levels amongst SMEs but there’s good news in terms of access to finance with more businesses getting the finance they need.

We have news of another alternative lender, merchant cash advance provider Liberis, which has benefited from the British Business Bank ENABLE programme via a £5m fund to on-lend to growing SMEs.

Businesses in the Greater Manchester area which are exporters or have ambitions to export can now take advantage of a new £9.5m fund. We take a look at how the Greater Manchester Export Fund works.

In the Business Finance Tip of the Week a chat with Steve White of Thornbury Collections in which he shares the strangest late payment excuse he’s ever heard and general tips on managing late payment.

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.

In this episode of the Business Finance Bulletin a look at the announcements in this week’s Budget focusing on small business finance issues. There’s news of a fund for growing businesses, Help to Grow, an extension of the Enterprise Finance Guarantee programme and a further step forward in the launch of the Bank Referral Scheme.

When comes to dealing with finances time is also short and that’s why clients of alternative lender Just Cashflow can now benefit from the launch of a new mobile app. We take a look at how it can help time-stretched business owners.

Concluding our look at the findings from the latest SME Finance Monitor report we review small businesses attitude to debt and awareness levels of alternative funding sources such as crowdfunding.

In the Business Finance Tip of the Week a signpost to a video on how to calculate and use the Stock Turnover Ratio to improve your stock management and boost your cash position.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

In the latest episode of the Business Finance Bulletin, news that the number of High Growth Firms is on the increase according to findings by the Enterprise Research Centre.

We take a look a new business loan fund launched by a regional lender, Coventry and Warwickshire Reinvestment Trust, aiming to support growing businesses in their locality.

There’s news of support being given by British Business Bank to an alternative lender to help boost funds for on-lending to businesses in need of asset finance.

Staying with asset finance and leasing we take a look at statistics from the Finance and Leasing Association which reveal strong growth in the sector in 2015.

And in the Business Finance Tip of the Week a look at a series of forthcoming videos in which Rob Warlow will be sharing insights into ratios you can calculate to help boost the performance of your business.

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In this episode of the Business Finance Bulletin a look back at 2015 in the alternative finance and crowdfunding market. The latest annual report from NESTA, Pushing Boundaries, provides an insight into how crowdfunding continued to grow in 2015.

If you are looking for an asset finance facility to fund your growth plans there’s news of a funding boost for the alternative lender LDF provided by the British Business Bank.

Xero, the cloud accounting software service, asked business owners what they thought the key ingredient for a successful business is. The entrepreneurs also shared their top three business pain-points. Do you suffer from any (or all) of these three barriers to growth?

And in the Business Finance Tip of the Week when to comes to raising business finance, what influence do past business successes or failures have?

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.

In the latest episode of the Business Finance Bulletin a review of the findings from the recent Small Business Finance Market Report. Released by the British Business Bank the report reveals that bank lending to SMEs is on the up and shares the sources of finance being used by small businesses.

Do you know the true of your business loan? That’s a question being posed by Growth Street, the alternative overdraft provider, as it calls for more transparent pricing via the introduction of an APR for SMEs.

Receiving payments via mobile phone may still be relatively new but we look at news from Paym, the mobile phone payment provider, on how usage of their service is rapidly on the increase.

And in the Business Finance Tip of the Week how a calculation taken from your Balance Sheet can test the strength of your solvency.

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.