UK SMEs say getting credit is harder on the anniversary of the Funding for Lending scheme
Ali Nawaz, UK market analyst, Western Union Business Solutions (UK) Ltd, said: “It has been three years since the government introduced its Funding for Lending scheme to give British businesses greater access to credit. While the scheme was initially deemed a success, SMEs now say that getting credit is considerably harder now than it was a year ago.
“In our own research with over 1,000 business owners, SMEs are reporting that access to credit is becoming more difficult year on year since 2013 with it being harder than ever today. Managing cashflow is challenging even for the largest organisations and SMEs need to have the right tools in place to stay on top of their finances.”
Top line results:
Western Union Business Solutions surveyed over 1000 SMEs for its International Trade Monitor report.
Businesses were asked ‘How would you rate the ease with which your business currently obtains credit/financing from traditional finance sources, using a 1-5 scale, where 1 = very straightforward/ easy and 5+ very difficult/ impossible’
In Q3 2014 the market average score was 2.44 (where 1 = easy and 5 = difficult) but crept up to 2.46 in Q4 2014 and 2.51 in Q1 2015. This figure has surged to 2.67 in Q2 2015 and reflects a significant challenge for UK SMEs.