Banks blasted over ‘disappointingly slow’ pace of lending as coronavirus loans hit £5.5bn May 7, 2020 Banks have lent over £5.5bn to SMEs through the CBILS scheme but a leading industry body has said the process is still too slow. The British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) said the improvement in the number of firms accessing CBILS is welcome. However, head of economics Suren Thiru said that with many firms “only having [...]
Brits think furlough scheme should last as long as social distancing May 7, 2020 Britons think the government’s furlough scheme should last as long as social distancing, according to an exclusive poll for City A.M. The poll, conducted by Redfield and Wilton Strategies, found that 57 per cent of Britons want the job retention scheme to continue as long as distancing measures are in place, even if for several [...]
Government will extend furlough beyond June if needed, says minister May 7, 2020 The government is committed to extending the job retention scheme beyond the end of June if required to support workers currently on furlough, a minister said today. Northern Ireland secretary Brandon Lewis said the government would not end furlough abruptly at the end of June if it is clear employees will continue to need support. [...]
US private sector sees jobless claims spiral over 20m May 6, 2020 More than 20m US citizens were made redundant last month, a shocking jobless statistic showed today to underline the severe economic impact of coronavirus. Payroll processing body ADP today reported private sector employment plunged by 20,236,000 jobs between March and April. The jobless figures mean around 13 per cent of the 162m Americans employed in [...]
£2bn of ‘bounce back’ loans for SMEs approved in first 24 hours May 6, 2020 More than 69,000 so-called coronavirus bounce back loans were approved on the first day of them being made available via banks. The approvals equate to over £2bn in loans during the first 24 hours of the bounce back scheme’s launch on Monday, chancellor Rishi Sunak said today. The seven largest UK banks including HSBC, Barclays, [...]
Business organisations form coalition in response to coronavirus May 6, 2020 Leading employer organisations have joined forces to create a united voice for business in response to the coronavirus pandemic. A group of more than 20 organisations have formed the Business Action Council (BAC), which claims to represent more than half a million businesses across the UK. Its founding members include the Confederation of British Industry [...]
Norman Lamont: Britons not prepared for the economic hardship ‘around the corner’ May 6, 2020 Former chancellor Lord Norman Lamont has warned the government’s furlough scheme has made people complacent and unaware of the coming economic hardship. Lamont, chancellor under Conservative Prime Minister John Major, said the scheme had lulled “people into a false sense of security” and that many do not realise “their jobs have disappeared or are about [...]
Barclays approves over 32,000 ‘bounce back’ loans May 5, 2020 Barclays has approved over 32,000 “bounce back” loans since the scheme was launched yesterday. Yesterday, the bank said it received 35 loan applications per minute when the government launched the new scheme. Barclays UK chief executive Matt Hammerstein told a House of Commons committee that the bank had received 200 applications within minutes of opening [...]
Virgin Atlantic to cut 3,150 jobs and quit Gatwick base May 5, 2020 Virgin Atlantic will cut a third of its workforce and cease its operations at Gatwick airport in a bid to survive the coronavirus crisis, the embattled airline announced today. The carrier, which will cut 3,150 of 10,000 strong workforce, is the latest airline to announce major job cuts after Ryanair and British Airways. In a [...]
London small business boss blasts Barclays over coronavirus loan scheme May 5, 2020 Small businesses are at risk of collapse due to stringent eligibility rules for emergency coronavirus loans, the boss of a London marketing agency rejected for a loan has warned. Richard Cox, co-founder of The Village Communications, accused banks of a “complete lack of interest” in helping small firms that were struggling to stay afloat during [...]