Should we all pay our taxes? It is well known that the UK has suffered over the last 5 years since the global financial crisis and that we continue to experience significant funding problems. There is a big debate at the moment regarding the payment, or non-payment, of UK corporation tax by Google, Amazon, Starbucks […]
Why funding problems are likely to get worse as the economy improves!
It is nice to be able to write about better news for the UK economy following a whole range of encouraging data releases. The CBI The CBI’s latest survey data forecasts growth of 0.3pc this quarter, rising to 0.4pc for the next two quarters and between 0.5pc and 0.6pc for each quarter of 2014. They […]
Business Finance Partnership: A guide to alternative funding
Following on from our recent article on the new Business Bank, this is the second in a series explaining the various government funding schemes available to businesses in the UK. Business Finance Partnership (BFP) Background It is a fact that 85% of all business loans are still handled by the “big four” banks as Barclays, […]
Funding for Lending not working? How it may increase business finance
It seems that the main effect of the Funding for Lending scheme so far is that it has made access to finance in the property market easier to come by! My first reaction to this was why has more not been done to channel much needed finance into the struggling SME market place? Commentators don’t […]
Business Bank – How it proposes to increase business finance
New Business bank April 2013 – An introduction The new Business Bank as first announced by Vince Cable last summer was designed to pull under one roof the myriad of government schemes aimed, in all good faith, at increasing lending across the business spectrum. There was a particular emphasis on the SME, the supposed lifeblood […]
More Funding for Lending – will this ease bank problems?
The Bank of England has today announced that the Funding for Lending (FLS) scheme that was due to end in January 2014 will be extended for another year to 2015. Background Since the launch last August, the FLS seems to have had a positive impact on the availability of mortgages but has been severely criticised […]
Availability of funding plummets says BoE report! Are you affected?
According to the Bank of England’s recently published ‘Trends in Lending’ report, business lending fell by £4.8bn between December and February and by £2.8bn in February alone! This has had an adverse affect on the business finance strategy of many businesses, and continues to be a real concern for the future of the UK economy. […]
How to find Turnaround Finance – a 4 step guide
Since the global financial crisis of 2008, any form of finance has been more difficult to come by, with the banks seeking to rebuild both their reputations and share prices; whilst at the same time responding to regulators’ desire for them to reduce their balance sheets. This dearth of business finance has been particularly badly […]
SME Business funding update and the 2013 Budget
The lack of access to finance for the SME is recognised as being a significant barrier to the country returning to growth! The 2013 budget presented little hope that this funding blockage would be released anytime soon. The chancellor announced a reduction for UK corporation tax to 20% from 2014, a £2,000 NIC holiday and a […]
14 need to know points on Cyprus and how it affects business finance
Could Cyprus be the trigger for yet another, potentially fatal Eurozone crisis? This is a problem that the EU have tried to ignore, but to no avail, it is now coming back to bite them, and in particular the Germans, in a big way! In a worst case scenario, this could lead to the exit […]