November 27 2014



- British banks and building societies drew down £2.0bn in Q3 2014 from the Funding for Lending Scheme

- Net lending to SMEs fell by £128m in Q3 2014

- The second wave of research on the independent Business Banking Insight website will be launched tomorrow (28 November 2014)

Commenting on the Funding for Lending figures, published by the Bank of England today, John Longworth, Director General at the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC), said: "It is disappointing that lending to SMEs continues to fall, despite the best efforts of the Funding for Lending Scheme. While larger companies continue to access the finance they need, the door often remains closed for young, high-growth firms - stunting the growth prospects of the very businesses we need to help secure our economic future. To improve the flow of finance to new and growing businesses we need a bigger, better British Business Bank that makes a real difference to business growth.

"We also believe that more needs to be done to improve the level of service businesses receive from their finance provider. The updated Business Banking Insight (BBI) survey, out tomorrow, will play a major role in achieving this – helping to improve trust and transparency between banks and SMEs.”