The finance market is ever-changing particularly among younger, more modern businesses who are shunning the traditional High Street banks in favour of alternative finance providers.

This the finding of survey of 512 small businesses carried out by ThinCats, a fintech lender to mid-sized SMEs.

The survey found that of businesses less than ten years old, only 32% would consider their bank to be their first port of call. This contrasts with businesses over 35 years old where 71% would default to their main bank. When it comes to working with an alternative finance provider, 23% of younger businesses are more likely to feel comfortable with this approach compared to 4% of the oldest SMEs.

Not surprisingly, where decision makers were aged under 35, 65% said a traditional High Street bank was not the first place they would go for funding. This contrasts with decision makers aged 55 and over, where it was just under 30%.

Sectors such as IT, telecoms and marketing, which are traditionally knowledge or service-based are those leading the way in moving towards alternative finance providers.

Worryingly, 30% of SMEs who were rejected by their first-choice lender, stopped searching for external funding altogether. This suggests that many businesses, of whom 55% said high street banks were the first lender approached, are potentially giving up when there are suitable alternatives available.

This demonstrates that more still needs to be done to highlight the range of alternative finance providers in the marketplace.

To start our latest Bulletin, a call from the FSB for the Chancellor to take a tough stance on late payment. With the annual Spring Statement a few weeks away, the FSB is seeking three commitments from the government to tackle late payment.

To support small businesses in need of finance, we have news from the British Business Bank that its subsidiary, British Business Investments, has made £20m available to alternative lender Thin Cats. Could you use a slice of that funding?

No Bulletin would be the same without the mention of that ‘B’ word! To close, an announcement from Barclays that is it to hold a series of Brexit Workshops across the UK in March to help business owners plan ahead.

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.

When the alternative finance providers entered the market to satisfy small businesses demand for finance, it was personal investors who provide the cash. We are now seeing institutional investors taking serious interest in the sector with announcements of tie-ups from Funding Circle and Thin Cats.

As well as holding back growth, late payment can have a costly impact on small businesses. BACS, the payment service provider, has taken a look at how late payment can affect small businesses, both in terms of cash and other knock-on effects.

To close this Bulletin, news from short-term lender Iwoca, which has announced agreements with another two major High Banks to utilise the benefits of Open Banking. Another step forward in speeding up access to 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.

Posted on 04.02.2014, by Rob Warlow

New figures released reveal that peer-to-peer lending (P2P) increased by 121 per cent during 2013.

The report published by the Peer-to-Peer Finance Association (P2PFA) shows that cumulative lending at the end of quarter four in 2013 hit £843 million compared to just £381 million at the end of 2012.

The report further reveals that at the end of 2013 there were over 3,700 business borrowers, 70,000 consumer borrowers as well as more than 86,000 active lenders.

The data has been supplied by Zopa and Ratesetter who service the individual/personal market and Funding Circle, Thin Cats and LendInvest. With many other providers in the market the actual figure will be higher, although these are the major players so constitute the majority of deals.

With the P2P platforms set for regulatory oversight by the Financial Conduct Authority from 1st April the alternative lending market is going to be set for further growth this year.