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 [...]
Rescue loans considered for manufacturers within bonus curb conditions October 12, 2021 Ministers are considering offering manufacturers rescue loans to help them weather rising energy prices, if they restrict bonuses. Steel, chemical and ceramics manufacturers will be asked to limit bosses’ bonuses and dividends under plans, The Telegraph reported. Business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng is understood to have submitted such a proposal to the Treasury within options to [...]
London market boosts insurer Hiscox November 2, 2021 Hiscox this morning said its gross premiums written for the first nine months of the year is up 6.1 per cent to to $3.46bn. Its London market did particularly well, with gross written premiums up 7.1 per cent. Huge weather events continue to play a large part in the global insurance and reinsurance market and [...]
CEO: ‘Incredible year’ for £88bn Covid loan bank as it helped 1.6m businesses to bounce back September 22, 2021 The taxpayer-owned bank that helped funnel billions of pounds worth of loans to British companies said it went through a “gigantic shift” during the pandemic year, the chief of the British Business Bank said this morning. Catherine Lewis La Torre said this morning that the BBB, which she leads, had an “important role” in the [...]
Greensill dished out a taxpayer backed Covid loan to neighbour December 13, 2021 Collapsed lender Greensill Capital gave a government backed Covid loan to the neighbour of founder Lex Greensill. Greensill is already under investigation for allegedly abusing its position while in charge of lending money under the Coronavirus Business Loan Interruption Scheme to dish out £400m to businesses linked to Sanjeev Gupta. It has now emerged that [...]
Letters: SMEs need cash for climate November 5, 2021 [Re: Small businesses look to Cop26 for fiscal support, 2nd November] The Federation of Small Business (FSB) report stated SMEs want more financial support and policy to help them become more sustainable. We agree, but financial products that marry both commercial competitiveness and ESG-related benefits have not been forthcoming. Not addressing this could derail the [...]
British Business Bank’s oversight of Greensill was ‘woefully inadequate’ with £335m of taxpayers’ money at risk November 20, 2021 A new report has warned that up to £335m of taxpayers’ money is at risk due to failures by the British Business Bank to properly scrutinise bust lender Greensill Capital. The Public Accounts Committee of MPs found that the bank, which oversaw the billions lent to businesses during the pandemic in loans backed by the [...]
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 [...]
British Business Bank chief Louis Taylor on risk: ‘Even if the worst happens, you learn’ July 20, 2023 For a man running a bank that has found itself at the centre of a fraud storm over the past two years, Louis Taylor talks warmly about the concept of risk. The state-owned British Business Bank he now runs shot to household-name status through the pandemic and enjoyed a moment in the sun as the [...]
Hiscox sets aside $47m for freak Texas snowstorm May 5, 2021 Hiscox has reserved $47m for payouts related to storm Uri, a devastating winter storm that raged through the Southern United States in February, with much of the damage concentrated in Texas. Payouts for the insurance industry as a whole stand at around $15bn, according to Hiscox, of which it owes $47m. The deep freeze in [...]