The British Business Bank has today announced that it has approved three new lenders for accreditation under the Bounce Bank Loan Scheme.
Allied Irish Bank, The Co-operative Bank and Starling Bank join TSB who were also accredited this week. They will be able to provide financial support to smaller businesses across the UK that are losing revenue and seeing their cashflow disrupted.
Following their approval, these three lenders will 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 Bounce Back Loan Scheme applications from smaller businesses across the UK.
All lenders accredited under the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) have been invited to become accredited to offer loans under the terms of the Bounce Back Loan Scheme.
The British Business Bank is working at pace to accredit those lenders who want to provide lending under the scheme to further extend its reach and provide more choice for smaller businesses.
Keith Morgan, CEO, said: “There has been incredible demand from smaller businesses for Bounce Back Loans since the scheme launched this week. Onboarding lenders with the capability and means to deliver the scheme rapidly means that more UK smaller businesses will be able to access the finance they need to get through the current pandemic.”
We have maintained a conversation to understand their needs at this difficult time and we will continue to do so
The Bounce Back Loan Scheme has previously accredited 11 lenders: Bank of Scotland, Barclays, Clydesdale Bank & Yorkshire Bank, Danske Bank, HSBC, Lloyds Bank, NatWest, Santander, TSB, RBS and Ulster Bank.
Donald Kerr, Director of SME Banking at The Co-operative Bank said: “Small businesses are the backbone of the UK and so it’s vital that we do all we can to give them access to funding so that they can meet this unprecedented challenge.
“The Co-operative Bank has worked at pace with the British Business Bank to offer Bounce Back Loans to provide our customers with further support. This will be added to a range of measures we have already introduced to help our SME customers manage their cash flow, such as offering the (CBILS) across our overdraft and loan products for business customers.
“We have maintained an ongoing conversation with the small businesses we work with to understand their needs at this difficult time and we will continue to do so, with the aim to be as supportive as possible.”
Unofficial estimates suggest more than £3bn was lent on the first day alone. On Tuesday, Lloyds said it had lent over £1bn to more than 32,000 businesses. It had processed 17,000 applications by lunchtime alone with, HSBC reporting 12,800.
