When the Recovery Loan Scheme was launched in April, the number of accredited lenders on the panel was limited. With the panel lenders now expanding, in our latest Business Finance Bulletin we review the new lenders focused on specific regions of the country and how they are broadening the Scheme’s reach.

Business is tough enough as it is but identifying and dealing with fraud can be an unwarranted distraction. HSBC has announced the launch of an app designed to flag new scams and keep you up to date with trends in fraud and cyber crime. Could this app help you keep away from the fraudsters?

To close this Bulletin, we review the latest figures from the Finance and Leasing Association which reveal that HP and Leasing deals are on the increase. Following the easing of restrictions, it seems that businesses are again beginning to re-invest.

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

If you prefer to read what’s featured in this Bulletin, here is a transcript.

Regionally-focused lenders are starting to offer finance under the Recovery Loan Scheme. HSBC launches fraud awareness app; and the latest asset finance figures shows that growth is back. All of this in the latest Business Finance Bulletin.

Recovery Loan Scheme Lenders

Let’s start this Bulletin with an update on the Recovery Loan Scheme.

First of all, a quick reminder of what the Recovery Loan Scheme is. Well, it’s the replacement for CBILs and Bounce Back Loans. It’s designed to give funding to businesses who are now looking for growth money, or recovery money.

Those lenders who have applied to go onto the panel and been successfully accredited by the British Business Bank will now be able to offer finance to those businesses who were looking to expand the game. When the scheme was launched at the beginning of April I mentioned that the panel was quite tight, quite small, but I said, towards the end of May, early June, we would see the panel beginning to expand. And that has now happened.

The good thing to see is that we’re starting to see more regionally-focused lenders being accredited under the scheme. These lenders are very much focused on certain areas of the country, which would benefit smaller businesses because they will be a much more interested in supporting smaller businesses in those areas.

Who are these lenders Who’ve been accredited to the Scheme?

We’ve got ART Business Loans, covering the West Midlands; BCRS covering the West Midlands as well; Enterprise Answers covering Cumbria, North Lancashire and the Yorkshire Dales; and GC Business Finance covering Greater Manchester.

So you can see the North of England is well represented. If you’re in those areas, hunt out those lenders, because they may be able to support you.

We’ve also seen other additions to the panel. The bigger lenders announced in the last two weeks are Starling bank and also Funding Circle. Funding circle, had about 27% of the CBIlS loan market last year, so no doubt they’re going to be a big player in this.

It’s great to see that the panel is now expanding. If you want to know if you can be eligible and want to know a little bit more about the Recovery Loan Scheme, we’re happy to have a chat. Just drop us an email info at business loan services.co.uk and we’ll happily chat with you about all of the options available to you.

HSBC Fraud and Cyber Awareness App

In the current business environment it can be hard enough to make money as it is, but even tougher if you lose that money to fraudsters. According to the National Crime Agency, businesses are losing up to £140 billion per year to fraud. HSBC have come up with a great idea; they are launching a free app to download called Fraud and Cyber Awareness app.This app will help you keep on top of the new trends in scams.

First, a quick look at the top three scams that HSBC have identified.

First of all, purchase scams where non-existent products are bought. That’s costing businesses on average £3,000 a year. Invoice scams, that’s costing businesses, £24,000 a year. And impersonation scams; that’s costing on average £6,500 per business.

So we can see there’s a lot of money to be lost here.

This app is a great addition to your toolkit to keep you aware of what’s going on in the world. When you download the app, the app will give you notifications of the latest scams of all the new trends going on. So it means that you can get on with doing your business and rely on the app then to keep you up to date and what to look out for.

If you’re interested in downloading this app, all you have to do is go to the HSBC website

A great addition to your toolkit to make sure you keep the money in your bank account, not the fraudsters bank.

Asset Finance and Business Growth

Good news coming out, confirming that business activity, starting to get back on track again.

The latest figures have been released from the Finance and Leasing Association, which shows the deal volumes of asset finance facilities are starting to increase again.

The members of the Finance and Leasing Association offer products such as HP and leasing and deal volumes for March have been released.

There’s been a 15% increase in the amount of business done in March, 2021 compared to March 2020. In the first quarter of this year, compared to the first quarter of 2020, the volumes were only up by 1% though, but it’s good to see volumes increasing in March overall.

However, on a 12 month basis to March the volumes over the whole 12 months is down by 20%, but at least we’re starting to see some traction coming back into the marketplace.

Where’s the deal volume coming from? Commercial vehicles, that’s leading the pace with a 20% increase in the amount of deals written in March and also business finance equipment, That’s up 14%. So it’s good to see the businesses are starting to reinvest again. I am sure that doing April and May, those figures would show further increases.

If you want to know more about asset finance and whether it could work for you and your business to get in touch with us, just drop us an email info at business loans services.co.uk. It is good to see the UK economy getting back on track

Wrap Up

That’s it for another Bulletin. As ever, I hope you enjoyed watching it and if you did, please, don’t forget to give it a like, a share and subscribe to this channel. Thanks very much and I Look forward to the next time. In the meantime, have a successful and profitable week.

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.

The first meeting of the recently formed Business Finance Council has released a 5-point SME Finance Charter. The Council was established to ensure a smooth flow of finance post-Brexit but will the promises to support small businesses be merely words?

Flexible finance provider Just Cashflow has announced modifications to its product range. The changes will allow more small businesses access to finance, especially those who favour overdraft-type facilities but can’t get bank support.

To close this Bulletin, we look at a partnership announced between mobile-only bank Starling and debt insurance provider Nimbla. The service link-up available to Starling Bank business customers is designed to lessen the impact of non-payment of debt.

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.

Banking fraud continues to be on the rise. To open this Bulletin, we share findings from UK Finance on the level of frauds reported in the first half of 2019. From the perspective of businesses, we look at how you can avoid being the victim of Authorised Push Payment scams.

With Brexit inching ever closer, how prepared are small businesses? We look at a survey from the FSB revealing the state of preparedness of businesses which say they would be negatively impacted by a no-deal Brexit. We also have news from Barclays on a number of Brexit roadshows they are hosting in October and November.

Finally, a look at Starling Bank’s announcement that they are launching an online web portal for their business customers to complement their mobile banking app.

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 latest Bulletin, with the new a Prime Minister prepared to enter into a No-Deal Brexit, what impact could this have on raising finance? We look at how some lenders are already starting to tighten their lending criteria. What can you do to prepare?

A survey from Hitachi Capital reveals the mistakes business owners admit to making during their early years in business. Did you make these mistakes and what could you learn about managing your business today?

To close, Starling Bank has announced a change to its business bank account product which will allow more businesses to access this mobile-only banking service.

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.

It has taken a while since the formation of the Small Business Commissioner office for them to name and shame a late payment offender, but the Commissioner has finally called out a well-known name. With the Commissioner’s focus on tackling late payment, will naming and shaming have an impact on other offenders?

Administrative tasks are not the favoured part of running a business. We look at the announcement from mobile-only bank Starling of its link up with cloud-based accounting package provider FreeAgent, which will reduce admin time and help with speedy production of Management Accounts.

To wrap up, our monthly look at activity in the Asset Finance sector with a mixed bag of results reflecting the degree of uncertainty which many business owners are currently feeling.

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.

The Enterprise Finance Guarantee Scheme has been a successful programme to help businesses access finance when they have no security. To open our latest Bulletin, news that ethical lender Robert Owen Community Banking Fund has joined the list of lenders offering access to business finance via EFG.

Following the government’s bailout of RBS in the aftermath of the credit crunch, the first recipients of an RBS-financed £775m fund has been announced. The fund is designed to promote and improve competition in the small business finance market. We look at the first three banks to benefit and their plans.

With Brexit looming, we close with the announcement from UK Finance of a new initiative, ‘Let’s Talk Business’. The campaign is focused on encouraging businesses to engage early with their banks if they are likely to need 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.

With a drive to boost the number of businesses exporting, a survey from alternative finance provider Just Cashflow has revealed a lack of knowledge is holding businesses back from taking the export leap. To close the gap, we look at an announcement from Just Cashflow of an initiative to support businesses wishing to export.

Administration tasks, such as invoicing and follow-up, can divert business owner’s attention. To ease the burden Barclays has launched an add-on to their Mobile Banking App which allows customers to create, track and reconcile invoices.

Whilst High Street banks are busy closing branches, mobile-only bank Starling has revealed a collaboration with the Post Office, which will make Starling’s services more accessible.

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.