More than 970,000 businesses supported with £40bn through Covid-19 lending schemes
Over 972,000 businesses have been provided with lending worth a total of £40.7bn through the three major government-backed lending schemes, new figures from HM Treasury show today, as part of the banking and finance industry’s plan to help businesses get through these challenging times.
Three months to the day after the launch of the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS), lenders have approved over 50,000 facilities through the scheme for businesses needing financial support, totalling £10.5bn.
Launched on March 23 2020, CBILS was the first of the three coronavirus loan schemes to be introduced by the government in partnership with the banking and finance industry. Since then, the number of approved providers offering the scheme has doubled from 40 to almost 90, including traditional high street banks, FinTechs, asset-based finance and invoice finance providers, giving businesses more choice in accessing the finance they need to absorb the Covid-19 shock.
The figures published by HM Treasury also show that the Bounce Back Loan scheme (BBLS) has continued to provide further support to tens of thousands of small and micro businesses every day. Through this scheme, 920,000 business owners have accessed £28bn worth of loans.
For 315 larger businesses, £2.1bn has been approved via the Coronavirus Large Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CLBILS).
Lenders have a wide range of additional measures to help businesses through the crisis, including working capital extensions, overdraft extensions and capital repayment holidays, ensuring businesses can access the right support that suits their needs.
Stephen Pegge, managing director of Commercial Finance at UK Finance, said:
“Since the beginning of the crisis the banking and finance industry’s core focus has been implementing a plan to help businesses through this difficult time.
“Across all the government-backed schemes, lenders have now provided over 970,000 business with £40 billion in finance. Three months on from the launch of the first support measure, the CBIL scheme has helped 50,000 UK businesses to get access to the finance they need.
“It’s important to remember that any lending provided under government-backed schemes is a debt not a grant, and so firms should carefully consider their ability to repay before applying.”
