The British Business Bank has announced that it has approved nine new lenders for accreditation under the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS), bringing the total number of CBILS lenders to over 60.
New lenders Assetz Capital, Atom bank, Ebury, Fleximize, Investec, Social Investment Business, Tower Leasing, Ultimate Finance and White Oak UK, will be able to provide financial support to smaller businesses across the UK that are losing revenue and seeing their cashflow disrupted, as a result of the Covid-19 outbreak.
The addition of these alternative finance lenders brings the total number of CBILS lenders to over 60, increasing the diversity of providers available to smaller businesses across the UK. Since the CBILS launch, the Bank has announced 22 new delivery partners to join the original 41 lenders, an increase of 54%.
Following their approval, each lender 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 CBILS applications from smaller businesses across the UK.
More than 80% of the UK’s smaller businesses have a finance relationship with CBILS’ 60+ accredited lenders. The British Business Bank is accelerating at pace the onboarding of new lenders to further extend the scheme’s reach.
Keith Morgan, CEO, British Business Bank, said:“The British Business Bank continues to help meet the incredible demand for CBILS by approving additional lenders for accreditation to the scheme, and provide even more choice for smaller businesses in need as a result of the Covid-19 outbreak. These nine newly accredited lenders for CBILS will be able to deploy vital funding and get additional finance flowing to smaller businesses across the UK as quickly as possible.”
The Bank 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.
