ThinCats: 2016 got off to a shaky start for SMEs
Kevin Caley, founder and chairman of peer-to-peer lending platform ThinCats comments on the Federation of Small Business’ survey:
“2016 got off to a shaky start for SMEs with uncertainty around the future of business in Europe, worsening business confidence levels and the continuing failure of banks to meet demand for SME finance. None of these things look likely to improve any time soon.
“So it’s really pleasing to see that some of the chancellors policies from previous years are actually starting to make a real difference. The Federation of Small Businesses’ survey tells us that a remarkable 9% of funding to SMEs this year has come from P2P lending who sit at the heart of the British economy. This is a positive achievement for an industry that didn’t exist 5 years ago and is fast becoming a white knight for SMEs. Over the coming year the big story for SMEs is likely to be the way that the chancellors Innovative Finance ISA leads to a further acceleration of peer to peer lending to SMEs, which is poised to unlock around £12bn of new funding for UK businesses.”