SME's and bank funding

 SMEs struggle with lack of bank funding

A report from Close Brothers Group has found the growth of the UK’s SMEs is being hampered by a lack of specialist advice and support from high street banks. Some 37% of firms had been turned down for finance within their first two years and 25% had been refused when they looked to scale from a small to a medium business. The report also found just 25% of micro-SMEs, companies with 1-9 employees, have used bank loans to grow – a figure that rises to 51% for SMEs with more than 100 employees. More often, business owners rely on personal savings, credit cards or loans from friends and family, with more than 25% opting for overdrafts to fund growth.

The Times (14/12/2016)