| Banks Increase Business Lending |
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| Wednesday, 16 November 2011 15:05 |
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Figures have shown that the UK's largest four banks have increased their lending to companies during the third quarter of 2011 with £57.4bn of new loans from July to September, up from £53bn in the second quarter.
While that is good news, actual lending to SMEs fell to £18.8bn from £20.5bn between April and June. This means that to meet the target of lending SMEs £56.1bn in 2011, the banks need to lend another £19.9bn between October and December. Overall, under the Project Merlin agreement, the big four banks pledged to lend at least £190bn to businesses this year, which means they need to lend £32.3bn in the final three months of the year to meet the overall target. |
