Funding Circle chief Lisa Jacobs: Lending through a crisis – and looking toward the US September 14, 2023 It’s not been a quiet few years for small business lenders. When covid struck in 2020, a host of non-banks found themselves thrust into the public consciousness alongside the big High Street lenders as small companies scrambled for a cash lifeline through lockdowns. The reception was a largely positive one; some even took on something [...]
Bank lending to firms up £12bn after dip due to covid schemes ending July 18, 2022 The so-called loan ‘drought’ induced by the pandemic appears to be coming to an, with lending up by £12bn. Banks are increasing their lending in wake of a sharp decline in wake of both the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) and Bounce Back Loan Scheme (BBLS) ending. According to research from ACP Altenburg Advisory, [...]
Starling Bank: Five things that defined Anne Boden’s time at the top June 30, 2023 The chief and founder of digital lender Starling Bank Anne Boden will hand over the reins to her number two today as she steps back from the top job after nine years. Boden has undoubtedly blazed a trail in British banking. The Swansea native remains the only woman to have launched a bank in the [...]
Sunak says he is not ‘ignoring’ the billions of pounds of Covid fraud January 26, 2022 Rishi Sunak has moved to assure people he is not “ignoring” or “writing off” billions of pounds stolen from the government’s Covid support schemes. The chancellor today said that “criminals sought to exploit our support schemes”, but that “we’re doing everything we can to get that money back”. Treasury minister lord Theodore Agnew resigned spectacularly [...]
UK watchdog slams government failures to tackle Covid loan fraud December 3, 2021 The National Audit Office has chastised the government for failing to crack down on an estimated £5bn of loan fraud during the pandemic. The government’s department for business, energy and industrial strategy handed out far more in Covid Bounce Back Loans than it was expecting during the pandemic with a total of £47bn dished out [...]
Treasury’s £4.3bn fraud write-off likely to be eclipsed by £20bn Covid loan defaults as CBILs and BBLs are not repaid February 8, 2022 The £4.3bn of Covid loans that may have to be written-off by The Treasury due to fraud and highlighted by the recent resignation of Lord Agnew, could be eclipsed by businesses failing to repay their CBILs and BBLs Covid support loans, an industry expert warns. £73.8bn has been loaned under the above schemes to around [...]
Starmer attacks PM and ‘loan shark chancellor’ over Covid fraud February 9, 2022 Sir Keir Starmer has hit out at the government over the billions of pounds lost to Covid fraud, accusing Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak of “turning a blind eye to scammers”. The Labour leader also labelled Sunak today as the “loan shark chancellor” over his recently unveiled package of measures aimed to reduce household energy [...]
Publicans loaned £138m to own businesses in battle for survival November 1, 2021 Pub owners injected £138m in loans to their own businesses to keep them afloat during the pandemic. Private equity investment firm Growthdeck found that some 1,730 UK pubs and bar companies ran so short of cash last year that their directors had to make loans to them from their own personal resources. As hospitality venues [...]
Exclusive: Barclays warns business owners’ mental health is in decline after getting into debt February 2, 2022 Barclays is launching 600 new so-called ‘business health masterclasses’ as the bank noticed that the mental health of thousands of business owners across the UK has taken a hit since they the have taken on debt, the bank’s head of business banking told City A.M. this morning. Hannah Bernard said that her team had found [...]
Treasury minister quits over government’s ‘lamentable’ Covid fraud record January 24, 2022 A Treasury minister resigned today over the government’s “lamentable” record on Covid fraud, after billions were stolen from Covid support schemes. Lord Theodore Agnew – previously responsible for government efficiency – said oversight of the Covid loan schemes by the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (Beis) and the British Business Bank had been [...]