Funding for Lending Scheme boosts small firm finance in Q3

Small businesses are among those benefitting from news that the Treasury's Funding for Lending Scheme (FLS) has seen loan amounts increase in the third quarter of this year.

Indeed, lending increased by around £500 million in the three months to September 30th as FLS providers borrowed £4.4 billion from the Bank of England.

This amount is also likely to increase in the months to come as 35 groups are now taking part in FLS, delivering funds to businesses that need help.

Paul Fisher, Executive Director for Markets at the Bank of England, said that he is hoping for more progress in the final quarter of this year.

"I am confident that the FLS will help the supply of credit. The incentives in the scheme are for banks and building societies to cut lending rates and hence lend more to get the cheapest funding," he explained.

"But it is too early to use these data as a reliable indication of the impact of the FLS on lending volumes."

Meanwhile, manufacturers' organisation EEF said yesterday (December 3rd) that Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne should "prioritise measures to support investment through the tax system" in tomorrow's Autumn Statement.

Posted by Thomas Fletcher

Date published 4 Dec 2012 | Last updated 4 Dec 2012