Aldermore: Businesses are being failed by big banks
ALDERMORE, the lender created from the ashes of Ruffler Bank, has warned that small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) are being suffocated because they cannot access credit.
The institution, which was reinvigorated when it was taken over by private equity group AnaCap last year, fired a broadside at the likes of Barclays and HSBC when it said entrepreneurs were “simply being failed by the traditional high street banks”.
Aldermore extended £300m to SMEs in the 12 months to 20 May. The firm recognised this “barely scratched the surface” given the £15.3bn drop in bank funding for small businesses over the past year.
But boss Phillip Monks said: “The pent-up demand for funding from UK SMEs is clearly there. These businesses are simply being failed by the traditional high street banks.”
Taxpayer-owned Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Banking Group were ordered to lend a gross figure of £105bn between them to small businesses by the last government. They are likely to be given new net targets by the Tory-Lib Dem coalition.