Finance difficulties for SME's

Financing difficulties remain for small firms

SMEs continue to face funding difficulties, with new research suggesting a growing number of small businesses have never secured external funding. According to a survey conducted by alternative lender Thincats, 75% of small businesses have yet to receive external funding, compared to 38% of medium-sized businesses. Laura Timm, FSB London policy chair, said: “Small businesses have difficulty acquiring finance for a variety of reasons. Traditional bank loans, despite being commonly associated with small business finance, are considered the second-most difficult to acquire, ahead of only equity. The primary reason for difficulties accessing different forms of finance is due to application processes being too long and the inability to speak to anyone about the process itself and the application requiring information the individual could not access.”