Today the British Business Bank has announced that it has approved two new lenders for accreditation to offer Covid-19 business loans to small businesses across the UK.

Tide will join the other 16 lenders who have been accredited to the Bounce Back Loan Scheme (BBLS), since the scheme opened last week.

Alternative finance lender Liberis has also been approved for accreditation by the British Business Bank under the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS), to offer term loans.

Following their approval, each lender expects to start lending under their respective schemes shortly and will confirm the dates from which they will be ready to receive applications from smaller businesses across the UK.

Keith Morgan, CEO, British Business Bank, said: “Our accredited lenders have seen an incredible demand for Covid-19 business loan schemes since they became available. Accrediting these additional finance providers means further support for smaller business customers and continues the British Business Bank’s long-term objective to offer more diverse sources of finance to smaller businesses.”

The Bounce Back Loan Scheme has previously accredited 16 lenders. These are AIB, Bank of Ireland UK, Bank of Scotland, Barclays, Clydesdale Bank & Yorkshire Bank, Danske Bank, HSBC, Lloyds Bank, NatWest, Santander, Skipton Business Finance, Starling Bank, The Co-operative Bank, TSB, RBS and Ulster Bank.

The accelerated accreditation process the British Business Bank has put in place for coronavirus schemes means it has been able to increase the number of lenders on the CBILS scheme by 66% since the scheme’s launch, increasing the number from 41 to 68, which includes many fintech providers.

The Bank continues to review applications from a wide range of lender types – from PRA-regulated banks, to platform lenders, debt funds, invoice finance lenders, asset finance lenders and responsible finance lenders.