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British Business Bank grows SME support to GBP 8 bln

Wednesday 16 September 2020 14:10 CET | News

The British Business Bank (BBB) has grown its stock of support to small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to GBP 8 billion, with most coming through alternative lenders.

The state-backed bank has revealed in its annual report, for the year to the end of March 2020, that 93% of its finance was provided through alternative lenders including peer-to-peer lending platforms such as Funding Circle and Assetz Capital.

The figure is up 21% from GBP 6.6 billion that was lent as of the end of March 2019.

The BBB also revealed that it has supported 98,000 businesses through its funding and guarantee programmes.

Prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, the BBB said it was on track to achieve its targeted adjusted return on average capital employed of 2.13%.

But its final return is now 1.2% due to valuation adjustments and expected loss provisions.

The annual report only covers the period up to the end of March so doesn’t incorporate much of the BBB’s work in facilitating state-backed emergency lending initiatives such as the coronavirus business interruption loan scheme and bounce back loans.

But the report does show that the state support it is helping manage has materially increase its operations.


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Keywords: British Business Bank, SMEs, lending
Categories: Banking & Fintech
Companies:
Countries: United Kingdom
This article is part of category

Banking & Fintech