Is bank lending really holding up the growth of the SME?

In recent years, bank-bashing has taken many forms. One example is that the perceived unwillingness of banks to lend to SMEs was holding up their growth or recovery. But is this really true? Certainly, the recession saw bank lending to business take a serious nose-dive; every pound of spare capital was needed to shore up balance sheets. But just how important, in reality, is bank lending to SME growth? Our recent member survey on funding for business turned up a very interesting view; bank lending is only regarded as a major funding source by less than one-third of members over … Read More »