Commenting on the latest figures from the Bank of England, which show that net lending to SMEs fell for a third month, Adam Tavener of the Alternative Business Funding group, said SMEs are increasingly in need of a way to finance their businesses when turned down, or turned off, by the banks.
He said:
“Recent research from the Institute of Chartered Accountants shows that high-growth SMEs find the banks ‘too slow and too conservative’ to help with their funding needs.
“These businesses are key to the UK’s economic growth and they need to feel confident enough in alternative sources to borrow money to aid their expansion. Having a bank referral process by which these businesses can be automatically directed to a reliable alternative option, will become increasingly important if bank lending to these crucial industries continues to fall.
“The recent consultation process examining the desirability of a mandated bank referral process for rejected SME credit seekers to alternative credit providers, is a real opportunity to profoundly redesign the market.
“This opportunity should be pursued by the government with the aim of rebalancing the SME lending ecosystem, with alternative lenders becoming the norm, and trusted portals such as alternativebusinessfunding.co.uk being the link and access point to the non-bank funding community that SME owners so obviously need."
