City watchdog tells banks to treat small businesses ‘fairly’ during cost-of-living crunch July 12, 2022 The UK’s financial watchdog has told Britain’s top banks to improve their treatment of struggling small business owners when collecting and recovering debts. The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said Britain’s banks should take action to ensure fair treatment of small and medium enterprise (SME) customers, after the watchdog uncovered repeated instances of failures during [...]
Small businesses lambast government’s price cut plan for being a “slap in the face” June 29, 2022 Asking small businesses to cut product prices as a way for the government to help Brits with the cost-of-living crisis was deemed as a “slap in the face” by trade bodies. The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) argued that forcing small firms to “soak up additional costs just isn’t realistic,” as business owners are no [...]
Record £11.9bn invested in London’s smaller businesses in 2021 June 22, 2022 Equity investment in London’s smaller businesses hit a record £11.9bn in 2021, according to data released today by the British Business Bank. This was an 89 per cent increase year over year, with the number of deals announced in the capital increasing by 23 per cent to 1,286, the Bank’s annual Small Business Equity Tracker showed. The upward trend continued in [...]
Female founders face greater risk of equity dilution than men June 8, 2022 Female founders are significantly more vulnerable to the dilutive effects of equity funding than their male counterparts, according to new research from JP Morgan, which shows women, on average, give away much larger stakes in their businesses than men. The UK’s 10,647 female led businesses raised a record £5.05bn in equity investment in 2021, whilst [...]
Exclusive: UK business loans written off by banks almost double to £356m as insolvencies quadruple May 16, 2022 The value of UK business loans written off by banks nearly doubled in the last quarter of 2021, rising 87% from £190m in the third quarter to £356m in the fourth quarter. Debt advisors told City A.M. this afternoon that write offs of loans have been subdued throughout the Covid crisis but are now rising [...]
Banks across the UK are ‘pulling the drawbridge’ as lending to small businesses hits all-time low May 16, 2022 The UK’s largest business group is warning that banks “pulling up the drawbridge” to small firms will further stifle economic growth as a new SBI study showed that successful finance applications plunged over the first quarter of this year. Fewer than one in ten (9 per cent) small firms applied for finance in the [...]
35 top business leaders write to PM backing new permanent ‘Thank Holiday’ for Queen’s jubilee: ‘The benefits would outweigh the costs’ April 26, 2022 Nearly 35 top business leaders have written to the Prime Minister in a show of support for a new annual ‘Thank holiday’ honouring Her Majesty the Queen’s 70 years of public service. Dragon’s Den star Deborah Meaden was joined by the head of the Confederation of British Industry and Hospitality UK in backing the initiative, [...]
Rishi Sunak urged to ‘turn wise words into action’ by FSB chair after small retailers feel ‘abandoned’ March 11, 2022 The chair of the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) has urged chancellor Rishi Sunak to “turn wise words into action”, after the vast majority of micro firms said they felt “abandoned” by his policies. As the cost of living crisis continues to bite for retailers and consumers alike, 2,000 independent retailers were surveyed through Not [...]
Exclusive: Nearly half of SMEs feel ‘big tech’ is standing in the way of customer connection January 28, 2022 Small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) are struggling to build and maintain relationships with their customers, new research has revealed.
Exclusive: Business Minister hails SMEs as economy’s ‘backbone’ as 75 per cent of CEOs say confidence surged during Covid-19 January 26, 2022 Minister for small businesses Paul Scully MP has praised UK companies as ‘the backbone of the economy’ as a new poll reveals that three-quarters of UK business leaders say that the way their business was able to adapt during the pandemic has boosted their confidence.