Research from alternative lender Nucleus Commercial Finance shows that healthy construction firms desperate for cash to invest and grow were being turned away from their banks or offered loans at unacceptably high interest rates. At the same time, it found that one bank was charging a failing customer interest of only 0.2 per cent of its turnover, in effect artificially keeping that company afloat. The net result is that other firms would most likely have had to accept higher rates to make up for... Read more >

Beatrice Bartlay, managing director of jobs agency 2B Interface, is spearheading a campaign to ensure that small businesses such as hers don’t suffer as a result of larger companies taking a lax approach to paying outstanding invoices. In perhaps one of the most significant pieces of VAT news for quite some time, Bartlay is calling for late payers to face a 20% VAT fine should they exceed a 60-day payment window. After this point, the offending company would pay additional VAT on the goods or services... Read more >

Business Secretary Vince Cable has launched the first phase of the new business bank. £300 million will be invested alongside private investors to address long-standing gaps in the SME finance market. This money is the first deployment from the £1 billion of new capital allocated to the business bank in the 2012 Autumn Statement. It will build on the success of the Business Finance Partnership to leverage at least the same amount in private sector investment. The focus is on promoting greater diversity... Read more >

More than half of small businesses in the last six months have been refused funding by their bank, with a third given no justification or explanation for how the decision was made. In a new survey, conducted by commercial finance broker Touch Financial, almost two thirds (59 per cent) of businesses questioned had applied for additional funding, such as a bank loan or an overdraft, at some time in the past six months. Incredibly, almost the same number (55 per cent) had seen their application declined. In... Read more >

Small businesses with well-developed finance teams achieve faster, more sustainable growth for longer and can attract investment to help them develop, says ACCA (the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants). A new report from ACCA – Accountants for small business – says that the SME finance function plays a critical role at different stages of an SME’s growth in attracting investment and helping them “emerge from the shadows”. ACCA says that SMEs need to make themselves ready and... Read more >

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