Banks

Setting banks business lending targets is not the way free up credit for firms, a business group has claimed.

New research on bank lending to smaller firms has thrown up both encouraging and discouraging news.

A campaign group has written to the Bank of England calling on its rate-setting Monetary Policy Committee to raise the cost of borrowing.

A leading business group has urged a radical reform of the banking system in order to give small businesses a fair crack of the whip at securing finance.

The UK’s five largest banks have organised mentoring schemes aimed at helping smaller businesses grow and develop.

Small firms are likely to encounter more problems raising finance over the next few months.

It is imperative that banks and businesses find common ground if the economy is to achieve a sustainable recovery, a leading business group has argued.

Britain’s manufacturing firms are beginning to find it slightly easier to gain access to credit and finance.

New figures suggest that lending to firms under the Government’s Enterprise Finance Guarantee (EFG) scheme has fallen this year.

UK banks have failed to reach the levels of small business lending that were agreed under Project Merlin.