At the beginning of 2018, Open Banking was launched. Designed to improve access to finance by streamlining the application process, Liberis, an alternative finance provider, has announced its first use of Open Banking technology to renew one of its client’s borrowing facilities. The banking revolution is now underway.

Barclays Bank has announced two new initiatives to increase the level of support it provides to small businesses. Firstly, we look at the bank’s use of a £300m ENABLE Guarantee granted by the British Business Bank to boost Asset Finance usage. Barclays has also announced the doubling of its unsecured overdraft and business loan limits.

To close this Bulletin, we review the latest Asset Finance statistics from the Finance and Leasing Association. The statistics to May reveal that following a slow start to 2018, Asset Finance volumes jumped in May with strong performance in purchase of commercial vehicles and plant and machinery.

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Are small businesses increasingly reluctant to borrow? According to findings in the latest SME Finance Monitor Report that appears to be the case. What are the factors holding businesses back from approaching lenders?

Following the Carillion liquidation, concerns continue to be expressed about how larger businesses deal with their smaller counterparts. Is there a failure in UK corporate governance, particularly when it comes to payment practices? That’s a question being posed in a consultation paper issued by the government. Do you have comments or ideas to share?

Despite the apparent overall reluctance to borrow, we close our Bulletin by reviewing the latest figures from the Finance and Leasing Association. The statistics for business transacted to January 2018 reveal steady growth in the use of this form of finance.

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.

Despite confidence levels amongst many small businesses being muted, we open our latest Bulletin with a look at news from Hitachi Capital Business Finance that SMEs are seeing opportunities coming out of Brexit. Also, the latest Lloyds Bank research reveals that confidence is up in terms of production output across the regions. So not all bad news.

Dealing with late payment is bad enough but when late payment turns into no payment then that can be a bitter pill to swallow. That’s where trade credit insurance comes in and we have news of a new streamlined policy from Atradius designed for small businesses.

To close we take a look at the latest statistics from the Finance and Leasing Association which reveal that the industry continues to see strong growth in leasing and HP when it comes to purchases of plant and machinery and business equipment.

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.