Lloyds And RBS Reaffirm Commitment To Business Lending

Fri, 18 Jun 2010

RBS and Lloyds Banking Group have revealed that they are meeting business lending targets set by the Government.

Speaking to the BBC, RBS said that it and subsidiary NatWest extended new credit facilities totalling £10.4bn to UK firms during the first three months of 2010, and continue to approve more than 85 per cent of all business finance applications.

The bank said it remained "absolutely committed to making credit available to viable businesses", and also vowed not to raise margins on overdrafts, and to cap arrangements fees on loans and overdrafts at 1.5 per cent per annum.

Lloyds, meanwhile, announced that net lending to businesses totalled £11bn in the year to March 2010, and that its "committed" to helping ensure small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) "continue to achieve their ambitions".

The announcements comes as new figures from the Bank of England show that the total amount of loans made by banks to UK businesses in April fell for fifth straight month, although the month-on-month fall of £0.4bn was much less than the £3.9 billion decline reported in March.

However, the Bank’s monthly ‘Trends in Lending’ report noted that credit conditions for business borrowers were gradually easing, although conditions for smaller companies "remain tighter than for their larger counterparts."
add to favouritesnewsletterlink to this pagesend to friendpost comments

Link to this page



 

Business Newsletter

Please enter your email below and subscribe to our monthly newsletter

Reduce mortgage paymentsSave on Your Mortgage

Would you like to save money on your mortgage? Fill out our quick mortgage enquiry form.

Health InsuranceProtect Your Health

Find Critical illness, Life and Private Medical Insurance PMI policies.