Treasury Select Committee chair calls out UK banks for treatment of SMEs during Covid crisis April 20, 2021 Treasury Select Committee chair calls out UK banks for treatment of SME during Covid crisis
Starling Bank CEO: Barclays ‘firmly in our sights’ as we’ll be bigger within five years November 15, 2021 Barclays is firmly on the radar of Starling Bank’s senior management, as the company said it is working to overtake the Canary Wharf-based banking giant in the business banking market within the next five years. The bold predictions come as the digital lending disruptor is getting ready for a stock market float. Starling’s founder and [...]
Rishi Sunak ‘to extend emergency Covid business loan schemes’ December 17, 2020 Chancellor Rishi Sunak is set to extend the UK’s £68bn coronavirus emergency loan schemes to help support businesses hit with the double whammy of Covid and Brexit, according to reports. Officials are drawing up plans to extend the three main loan guarantee schemes, including the government’s £43.5bn coronavirus bounce back loans programme, the Financial Times [...]
Sunak to crack down on Covid support fraudsters with new taskforce February 27, 2021 A new fraud taskforce to crack down on people who have exploited the government’s Covid-19 support schemes will be unveiled at next week’s Budget. The Treasury has announced that it will put £100m into a new Taxpayer Protection Taskforce to investigate those who fraudulently made use schemes such as furlough and the Self Employment Income Support [...]
HMRC launches 13,000 investigations into potential Covid support scheme fraud June 28, 2021 The UK tax authority has opened almost 13,000 probes into businesses that may have abused the government’s coronavirus business support schemes. HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) is investigating potential fraud and other non-compliance with the rules for the use of the government’s furlough programme, self employment income support scheme, and the “eat out to help [...]
COVID-19 and the economic impact on UK businesses July 23, 2021 The COVID-19 pandemic has left a lot of business struggling, but how bad is the overall outlook for them? We’ve spoken to Michelle Elliot CA, partner at FRP based in Glasgow, about whether we can expect a tsunami of insolvencies or if UK businesses are coping better than expected. Michelle is a Chartered Accountant and [...]
eBay moves into finance to help SMEs navigate Covid cashflow crisis May 12, 2021 eBay UK has today announced a new finance programme to help small businesses rebuild as startups across the country face a Covid-driven cashflow crunch. Capital for eBay Business Sellers (CEBS) will offer financing products to support the 300,000 SMEs that sell through the platform to 29m active monthly buyers. The launch follows new research released [...]
Government-backed Covid loans swell to £65.5bn November 19, 2020 The government has given banks guarantees on £65.48bn of lending to businesses hit by the coronavirus via the Bounce Back Loan scheme. According to the latest finance ministry data, the biggest part of the lending was to small businesses, for which banks received a 100% state guarantee on £42.18bn of loans that have been made. [...]
Exclusive: Covid support almost equal to all bank lending last year October 19, 2020 The amount of money UK businesses borrowed through the government’s coronavirus support schemes is almost equal to all bank lending for the same period last year, new figures show. Covid-related lending schemes have provided £98.2bn in credit to businesses compared to the £100.5bn that was lent during the same five-month period last year, according to [...]
Government extends coronavirus business loans ahead of Thursday’s England lockdown November 3, 2020 The government has extended applications for its coronavirus business support loan schemes ahead of England entering a second lockdown on Thursday.