A report published by the British Business Bank has shown the importance of increasing the number of finance options for small businesses in the UK.
The report showed the progress that the British Business Bank has made in providing smaller businesses with a more diverse range of finance options and explored the benefits and importance of raising awareness of funding options to boost business growth.
Access
The report consisted of five areas relating to finance options for small businesses, with the key topics being who has access to mainstream finance options, where finance can be accessed, whether businesses are able to have access to finance in a timely fashion, on what terms finance is being accessed, and how access to finance is being delivered.
The report showed that the British Business Bank has met its targets and has been successful in supporting more options for smaller businesses when it comes to finance, with 94 per cent of the bank’s finance being delivered through providers other than the four main banks in the last financial year. This is up from 79 per cent of finance in the bank’s first year of operation.
Awareness
British Business Bank CEO Keith Morgan said that the varied finance needs of the small business community aren’t always reflected in the provision or take-up of available finance options, with marked differences seen across regions in the awareness and supply of finance options.
He stated that as Britain’s national economic development bank, the British Business Bank was founded to improve finance markets so that they improve the service for small enterprises across the country and enable them to achieve their growth potential.
He added that the bank is committed to discovering methods to support the market in increasing the choice of supplier and product as well as raising small business awareness of the variety of finance options that are accessible.
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