Attended by approximately 120 NACFB members along with patrons made up of lenders and other product providers, the clear message that came across was the lack of funding being provided by banks to the SME sector.
Kevin Cooke, Director of Business Lending, commented “We have been highlighting the acute shortage of funding to reach the private sector for over a year now. The government seems happy to ignore the real evidence and listen to the assurances of the banks that they are lending again to the SME sector, when clearly this is not the case. The members we talked to at the Patrons Day are in total agreement that the industry should continue to press the Department for Business, Innovation & Skills and the Treasury to bring more pressure to bear on banks to increase lending in a meaningful way.”
Nikki Cann, Associate Director of the NACFB, said “We were delighted with the attendance at the NACFB Patrons Day and the lenders who were there should be applauded for supporting brokers at this difficult time, but clearly we are still a long way from seeing the funding tap being turned on for clients of our members. At the NACFB, we are going to do everything we can to highlight the issues that affect our members to the government and aim to help rectify this situation.”
