SME's turn away from traditional lenders

 Small firms turning away from traditional lenders

Small businesses are increasingly using lending platforms, according to a CEBR report, which says direct lending to businesses at the beginning of 2016 was up 50% year on year. The researchers estimated that Funding Circle, which commissioned the report, has boosted the UK economy by £2.7bn since 2010, helping over 15,000 businesses access finance and creating around 40,000 jobs. Scott Corfe, director at the CEBR, said: “Since the financial crisis, UK businesses have increasingly turned to non-bank lending to raise the funds they need to invest, hire new staff and expand to new markets. Companies such as Funding Circle are driving billions of pounds of economic activity and generating tens of thousands of jobs, something that’s set to grow rapidly as the financial landscape continues to evolve”.

City AM (12/08/2016)