The British Business Bank has announced that it has approved four new lenders for accreditation under the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS), which provides financial support to smaller businesses.
The new CBILS lenders are Allied Irish Bank, ThinCats, Paragon Bank and IGF (Independent Growth Finance).
Each lender will now be putting in place the operations required to start lending under the scheme and will confirm shortly the dates from which they will be ready to start receiving applications.
More than 80 per cent of the UK’s smaller businesses have a finance relationship with CBILS’ 50+ accredited lenders. The British Business Bank says it is accelerating at pace the onboarding of new lenders to further extend the scheme’s reach.
It was originally announced at the Budget that an initial £1bn of government-backed lending would be available through CBILS. The government subsequently announced that it would be a demand-led programme, providing whatever the market needs.
British Business Bank CEO Keith Morgan, said: “Accredited lenders have continued to see an incredible demand for CBILS, so the Bank is helping to meet that demand and provide even more choice for smaller businesses by approving additional lenders for accreditation to the scheme.
“The announcement means these newly accredited lenders will be able to deploy vital funding and get additional finance flowing to smaller businesses across the UK as quickly as possible.”
Business Secretary Alok Sharma said: “These loans are an essential part of the wide-ranging package of support the government has put in place to help UK businesses. I am delighted to see more lenders offering loans which will, in turn, help even more businesses access the funds they need.”
The Bank says it continues to review applications from a wide range of lender types – from PRA-regulated banks, to platform lenders, debt funds, invoice finance lenders, asset finance lenders and responsible finance lenders.
