Today the British Business Bank has announced that it has approved four new lenders for accreditation under the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS).

New lenders The FSE Group, FW Capital, Mercia Asset Management and Whiterock Finance will be able to provide financial support to smaller businesses in the Northern Powerhouse and Midlands Engine regions, as well as Northern Ireland, that are losing revenue and seeing their cashflow disrupted, as a result of the Covid-19 outbreak.

Accreditation will now allow appointed regional fund managers to issue CBILS backed loans from the following regional funds – the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund (NPIF) Debt Funds managed by FW Capital and Mercia Asset Management, the Midlands Engine Investment Fund (MEIF) Debt Fund managed by The FSE Group, and the Northern Ireland Growth Finance Fund managed by Whiterock Finance.

Following their approval, each lender will be putting in place the operations required to start lending under the scheme and will confirm shortly the dates from which they will be ready to start receiving CBILS 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 four additional regional 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.”

Government published statistics show businesses have to date[1] benefitted from over £22 billion in loans and guarantees to support their cashflow during the crisis through schemes delivered by the British Business Bank. This includes 40,564 facilities worth £7.25bn through the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme.

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 90% since the scheme’s launch, increasing the number from 41 to 78.

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.

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[1] Latest figures published by HMT, 19 May 2020