As the economy kicks back into action, it’s not only businesses which are feeling more confident. Opening this latest Bulletin, we look at a number of lenders who are offering increased support to small businesses with new funding pots and enhanced terms.

Have you tried opening a business bank account during the last 12 months? If you have then no doubt it was a frustrating experience. The government seems to think so as well with the launch of a Treasury Select Committee investigation. What are they asking of the High Street banks?

To close, in the latest Lloyds Bank Recovery Tracker further good news about an improvement in business recovery. One sector stands out in seeing the signs of an early bounce back.

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Here also is the transcript of this latest Business Finance Bulletin…

Increased access to finance for small businesses; banks questioned about their opening of new bank accounts; and business recovery starting to look strong. All of this in the latest Business Finance Bulletin.

Small Business Finance Support

It the weeks go by and I speak to more and more business owners, there’s one theme that’s constantly coming out and that’s an increased level of confidence. Yes, business owners are feeling a lot more optimistic about the future, and it’s not only business owners who are feeling more confident; it’s also lenders.

Over the last week or so, I’ve seen more lenders coming out and saying that they want to support businesses with increased access to finance. So let’s take a look at a couple of these examples. First up Bibby Financial Services. Bibbys are an invoice finance provider, and they’ve announced the creation of the Pandemic Recovery Fund. They’ve put aside £300 million to support small businesses. This is on the back of a survey they’ve carried out where 66% of small business owners say that they anticipate business being back to pre-COVID levels by September. Obviously all of that increased business brings working capital needs, and that’s where Bibby’s funds comes in.

Next step, is Nucleus Commercial Finance. They’ve announced some tweaks to their Business Growth Loan. Previously, you could have a loan for six months up to a maximum of £25,000. Obviously they are confident about the future, so they’ve now increased that loan term up to 12 months, and you can borrow up to a maximum of £50,000.

Next up, Yorkshire Building Society or YBS Commercial Mortgages. They’ve announced that for their semi-commercial mortgage range they’ve now introduced a 10 year fixed rate. That’s a real sign of confidence they’ve got in the marketplace.

Next up a new lender to the market, Go Business Loans. Go Business Loans have just launched offering limited companies and LLPs loans from £2,500 up to maximum of £20,000. You can apply online and you get notification of the decision within 24 hours. It is great to see a new lender coming into the marketplace, so well done to the team at Go Business Loans.

So overall you can see, it’s not just business owners who are confident about the future; it’s also lenders as well, which is a great signal or a great sign that perhaps better times are around the corner.

Opening a Business Bank Account

Have you tried opening a business bank account over the last 12 months? Well, if you did no doubt it was a highly frustrating experience. The high street banks in particular practically closed their doors to new customers. They just didn’t have the resources and the manpower to cope with the volume of requests for new bank accounts, particularly from sole traders who were trading through a personal account, but realised they needed to have a fully fledged business account in order to qualify for the CBILS and Bounce Back Loans. So as a result, the whole system ground to a halt.

So bad has it been that last week, the Treasury Select Committee actually wrote to a number of the banks being a Barclays, Lloyd’s, Nat West, Metro, Santander and HSBC asking them for comments on their account opening procedures.

They want to know how long does it take to open an account; Have you had any complaints; how you’ve responded to those complaints. Also a killer question, do you intend staying in the small business market?

All of these banks have to reply to the Treasury Select Committee letter by the 19th of May. So it’d be interesting to see what their responses are. I guess the fact that they’ve even received the letter may wake up some of them to think, Hey, we need to get back on track here and make it easy to open a business account. Obviously the economy can’t operate if people don’t have bank accounts, so this is why the government has taken a very keen interest on this.

It will be interesting to see what the response is from the banks and more importantly, what action they’re going to take to make it easier for businesses to open bank accounts.

Business Recovery Improvement

In the first segment of this Bulletin I highlighted that there’s been a definite increase in the feeling of confidence amongst UK small businesses. This has been born out by the latest Lloyds Bank Recovery Tracker. In a review of the 14 sectors that the tracker looks at, 11 of them have said they’ve seen an increase in business in March. In fact, the growth rate has been the highest since September 2020. So we can see there is definitely an increase in levels of activity in the UK economy.

The transport sector particularly, which covers not only logistics, but airlines, rail, and also the bus industry has seen a significant jump in activity. And that’s a really good positive sign that the UK economy is starting to move. So really good news. However, one thing I did cover in the previous bullets in that of course growth brings its own problems and that is access to cash to fuel your working capital need.

So with all of this growth going on, one thing I plead is to make sure that you watch your cashflow. If you need to have access to finance, make sure that you look at all the various options available to you, not just commercial loans, business loans, invoice finance, and asset finance, but also the new Recovery Loan Scheme. All of these are out there designed to support you as you start to grow again.

If you want to chat through any of these finance options, of course, just drop us an email info at businessloanservices.co.uk, and we’ll happily chat through all the various options with you. So great to see that the UK economy is back on the growth path, but watch out for that need for cash.

Closing

That’s it for another Bulletin and as ever I hope you enjoyed watching. If you did, please, don’t forget to give it a like, a share and of course, subscribe to this channel.

Opening our first Bulletin of 2020, we kick off with a look at how much time small business owners spend on finance-related administration tasks. A survey from Starling Bank reveals that too much time is devoted to non-income generating duties.

How did small businesses performance in 2019 and what are their priorities for 2020? That’s a question posed by Nucleus Commercial Finance and the feedback on how small businesses saw last year’s performance is surprising.

To close, Santander has announced the launch of its 2020 Women Business Leader programme. They are looking for growth-focused female entrepreneurs to link up with seasoned business mentors. Could that be you?

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

To open our final Bulletin of 2019, a fitting close to this season with a look at the possible return of certainly following the Election result. Will the parliamentary majority be enough to overturn the feeling of uncertainty which has dominated the last 12 months?

Challenger banks are often at the leading edge when it comes to innovation and in terms of linking up with 3rd small business service providers that’s no exception. We look at announcements from Metro Bank and Starling Bank of partnerships available to their SME customers designed to improve efficiencies and access specialised services.

To wrap up our last episode for 2019, some good news on late payment. We review a new survey from MarketFinance which reveals that 2019 saw an improvement in late payment practices, lessening the cashflow strain for many small businesses.

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

Kicking off our latest Bulletin we review a survey from Xero, the online accounting software provider, which reports that despite many small business owners feeling despondent about their circumstances, the 20 years will see a significant, positive change.

With the High Street banks not known for delivering competitive foreign exchange services, we look at the announcement from cashflow finance provider Just Cashflow of the launch of its own foreign exchange offering.

To close, news from Pay UK that one day in the first week of December saw them handle the highest daily volume of automated payments. Are we finally seeing the demise of the cheque?

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

Opening this week’s Bulletin, a surprising continuation in the rise in business confidence despite the looming general election and Brexit limbo. However, another survey reveals that the feeling of uncertainty still prevails, especially among younger businesses.

With approximately £382b held on current accounts and low interest deposit accounts, findings from Aldermore Bank exposes how much businesses are losing out by not maximising deposit account returns.

To wrap up this episode, a look at how small businesses are still limiting their borrowing appetite as revealed in the latest Bank of England bank lending figures.

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

Opening our latest Business Finance Bulletin, we take a look at the new report from the SME Finance Monitor team. Among the findings about small business owner’s attitudes to borrowing we look at how more businesses are turning to external finance. What’s driving this move?

With the government continuing to ramp up its Brexit planning, a new finance initiative has been announced. The formation of the Business Finance Council will bring together key players in the finance sector to ensure continuity in supply of finance post-Brexit.

To close, news from alternative finance provider ESME Loans that it has increased the maximum amount it can lend via its unsecured business loan product.

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

A recurring theme in recent Bulletins has been emerging evidence of reluctance among small business to borrow and this trend is a highlight of the latest SME Finance Monitor Report. The report also reveals the top three issues which are of most concern to small businesses. Is access to finance still an issue?

Late payment has been another constant problem we have regularly featured in our Bulletins. In an effort to curb late payment the Government has called for thoughts from businesses on how it can tackle this problem. Do you have an idea to contribute?

To close this Bulletin, a look at a new £100m fund launched by the British Business Bank. With a large portion of angel investment focused on the South East, the Regional Angels Programme aims to improve access to early stage equity finance across the whole of the UK.

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.

Of those businesses which borrow money, what do they typically spend it on? To open this Bulletin, we review findings from Liberis, the short term lender, when they posed this question to their clients. The feedback reveals a variety of uses for finance raised, however one reason given does flag up a potential area of concern in terms of business health.

We are undoubtedly in uncertain terms and the latest Federation of Small Businesses survey confirms this by revealing a dip in business confidence levels. The FSB’s recent quarterly Small Business Index highlights the feelings of uncertainty and also identifies other areas which are of concern to UK small businesses.

To close, thankfully some positive news! Crowdcube has announced that it has hit a milestone in terms of £1 million plus equity raises. The news shows that far from being suitable for small finance requirements, equity crowdfunding is meeting the needs of larger, more ambitious business owners.

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.

To open this Bulletin, we review findings from the latest SME Finance Monitor Report which reveals a continued fall in the number of businesses looking to borrow money. The spectre of Brexit and a general uneasiness about the economy appears to be haunting business owners.

For those businesses which are looking to borrow then easily finding a finance source can be time consuming; that’s where collaboration between operators in the finance sector can help. We look at how Starling Bank and Growth Street is one example of businesses joining forces to improve access to finance.

To close, Creditsafe the company credit rating agency, has issued its latest 3-monthly review which highlights a startling increase in both the number of corporate failures and bad debts. At least the report contains one bit of positive news to close this Bulletin!

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.

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.