Covid loan schemes deliver £79.3bn to businesses
Lenders have delivered 1,670,939 loans worth £79.3bn through Covid state-backed lending schemes, the British Business Bank has revealed.
New data showed that the bounce back loan scheme (BBLS) – which facilitated 100 per cent government-backed loans of up to £50,000 for microbusinesses – delivered 1,560,309 loans collectively worth £47.36bn.
And new figures for BBLS top-up loans showed that 106,660 loans have been approved worth £950m.
Meanwhile, 109,877 loans worth £26.39bn have been facilitated through the coronavirus business interruption loan scheme (CBILS), which provided loans of up to £5m with the government underwriting 80 per cent of the loan’s value.
Businesses received 753 loans worth £5.56bn through the coronavirus large business interruption loan scheme (CLBILS), which was aimed at larger businesses.
Read more: Assetz Capital lends £370m through CBILS
London and the South East saw the largest usage of CBILS and BBLS loan facilities (34 per cent), followed by the North West of England at 11 per cent.
Construction (17 per cent) and wholesale and retail (15 per cent) were the areas that benefited from the highest proportion of total loans.
The manufacturing sector received a much higher proportion of CBILS loans (14 per cent) than its share of the business population (five per cent). This was followed by wholesale and retail (17 per cent compared to 9.2 per cent).
Meanwhile, for BBLS, the wholesale and retail sector accessed a significantly higher proportion of loans (15 per cent) than its share of the business population (nine per cent), followed by the construction sector which received the largest proportion of BBLS loans overall (17 per cent).
Read more: Funding Circle strikes another CBILS securitisation
“The Covid-19 loan schemes have been an important part of the government’s response to the pandemic, providing businesses with much-needed breathing space and reducing cashflow concerns for many,” said Catherine Lewis La Torre (pictured), chief executive of the British Business Bank.
“We’re pleased to see evidence that they have helped smaller businesses right across the UK and look forward to helping more businesses to prosper and grow as we look towards economic recovery.”
Separate data released by the British Business Bank today revealed that businesses accessed £1.14bn of funding under the future fund.
Funding Circle, Assetz Capital and LendingCrowd all delivered funds through CBILS and Funding Circle was the only P2P platform accredited for BBLS.
CBILS, BBLS and CLBILS closed for applications on 31 March and were replaced by the recovery loan scheme which launched on 6 April.
The BBB has accredited many lenders to the scheme of late, the most recent of which was Time Finance.