British Business Bank director named among New Year Honours
British Business Bank (BBB) non-executive director Jonathan Britton has been awarded an OBE for services to small business finance in the New Year Honours 2021.
Britton, who also chairs the state development bank’s audit committee, has more than three decades of experience spanning corporate, small business and investment banking as well as being the director of his own firm.
From 2006 to 2017 he was a director of Sparks, a leading children’s medical research charity, becoming chair in 2012.
His most recent executive roles were as divisional finance director and head of strategy for the wholesale division at Lloyds Banking Group from 2009 to 2013 and prior to that, global controller and head of treasury at Barclays Bank plc from 2006 to 2008.
He has previously also held senior posts in UBS’s investment banking department.
The BBB has played a key role in providing financial support to small businesses, through a range of finance providers including peer-to-peer lenders.
The government last year committed £442m to the BBB for 2021-2022 to provide access to finance for small businesses across the UK.
The funds, excluding Covid-19 support schemes, include £56.5m to finance an expansion of the bank’s start-up loans scheme.
Read more: Treasury confirms lenders responsible for recovery of government-backed loans
This will enable the bank to provide 1,000 more loans in 2021/22 than were originally funded in the March 2020 Budget to support entrepreneurs setting up businesses as part of the economic recovery.
A fifth of the loans, or 21 per cent, under this programme have been issued to ethnic minority entrepreneurs, who make up just four per cent of the small and medium-sized enterprise population.
The government has also provided the bank with the resources to commit an additional £100m to innovation and growth finance in 2021/22.
Read more: British Business Investments reports funding rise but profit drop amid pandemic
