More than 1.1m businesses have received coronavirus lending support
Lenders have supported more than 1.1 million businesses with £46.3bn of government-backed emergency coronavirus finance, Treasury figures have revealed.
The data is based on support provided through the coronavirus business interruption loan scheme (CBILS), bounce back loans (BBL) and the future fund, which are gradually gaining more involvement from peer-to-peer lenders such as Funding Circle.
Almost 1.05m small and micro businesses have received a total of £31.7bn through the BBL scheme, an increase of £770m over the past week, the Treasury said.
Lenders have also provided £11.9bn worth of facilities to 54,500 companies through CBILS and £2.7bn through its larger counterpart.
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“This significant level of support demonstrates the clear commitment from the banking and finance industry to help businesses get through these tough times,” Stephen Pegge, managing director of commercial finance at banking trade body UK Finance, said.
“This sits alongside the broad package of measures from the industry including commercial lending, capital repayment holidays, extended overdrafts and asset-based finance, ensuring that businesses can receive the right support that suits their needs.
“It’s important to remember that any lending provided under government-backed schemes is a debt not a grant, and so firms should carefully consider their ability to repay before applying.”
A number of P2P lenders are now accredited to provide CBILS such as Funding Circle, Assetz Capital, LendingCrowd and Folk2Folk.
Crowd2Fund has said it will facilitate future fund applications.
Funding Circle has also secured permissions to provided funding under the BBL scheme.
The P2P lender said last week that it has approved approximately £460m in CBILS applications and originated £300m as of 30 June 2020.
Read more: The P2P CBILS rates on offer to borrowers