National Loan Guarantee Scheme to help businesses access credit

In his Autumn Statement, the Chancellor of the Exchequer has further outlined his plans to help small businesses to access much-needed funding with the 'credit easing' scheme, which will be facilitated by the launch of a new National Loan Guarantee Scheme.

In response to increasingly desperate pleas from the small business community, and with the big banks missing the small business lending targets they agreed with the Government under Project Merlin, George Osborne first announced proposals for a scheme of credit easing at the Conservative Party Conference, where he outlined the highlighted the problem he is seeking to solve;

"Because the banks are damaged, they won't lend at the current low rates. It's like putting your foot on the accelerator but, because the transmission mechanism is not working properly, the car wheels won't respond."

"Everyone knows Britain's small firms are struggling to get credit and banks are weak. So as part of my determination to get the economy moving I have set the Treasury to work on ways to inject money directly into parts of the economy that need it such as small businesses. It's known as credit easing.

Credit Easing implemented through new National Loan Guarantee Scheme

Essentially, credit easing is a mechanism for the Treasury to pump credit directly into small businesses, and the Chancellor
used his Autumn Statement speech to outline further how it will be implemented.

Credit easing will be achieved with the launch of a National Loan Guarantee Scheme. It will use the low interest rates that the Government can borrow at, to lower the rates that small businesses pay for their business loans.

Or as George Osborne put it, "We’re using the credibility we’ve earned in the international markets to help our domestic economy."

Businesses with turnover of up to £50 million eligible

The Government has set a ceiling of £40 billion for the credit easing programme, with half of this available in the first two years. It will be paid for by a £40 billion reduction in the Asset Purchase Facility which the previous government gave the Bank of England to buy business loans, but only a small proportion of which was ever used.

Businesses with a turnover of up to £50 million will be eligible to apply for new business loans and overdrafts under the National Loan Guarantee Scheme. The Government expects it will lower the interest rates charged to businesses by 1%.

Together with the Bank of England, they have devised a mechanism to allocate funding to different banks based on how much they increase both net and gross lending to small businesses. While a clear audit trail - based on the experience of the European Investment Bank’s Loans for SMEs programme in the UK - will ensure the banks comply.

Youth Contract to offer businesses subsidies to employ young people

The Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has revealed the Government is to address the high levels of unemployment among young people with the launch of the Youth Contract.

The scheme will begin in April 2012 and will be Government-supported to the tune of £1 billion.

Under the Youth Contract firms will be able to claim a wage subsidy worth £2,275 for each new employee between the ages of 18 and 24 they take on. Government funding will be made available for up to 160,000 new jobs.

Youth Contract to provide subsidies for 160,000 new jobs

In addition to subsidising 160,000 new jobs, the Youth Contract will provide a further 250,000 work experience placements. Over a three-year period, the Youth Contract scheme aims to create 410,000 new work places for 18 to 24 year olds.

Youth Contract scheme highlights include:

·         The Youth Contract is open to all businesses interested in employing 18 to 24 year olds.

·         250,000 young people to be offered work experience placements of up to eight weeks. These will be available to every unemployed 18 to 24-year-old who wants one, providing they have been looking for work for at least three months.

·         A £50 million programme for the 25,000 most disadvantaged 16 and 17-year-old NEETS (those not in employment, education or training) to get them onto an apprenticeship or into work.

·         At least 20,000 additional incentive payments for firms in England to provide apprenticeships to 16-24-year-olds.

·         Extra help for young people at Job Centres, including time with advisers and a careers interview.

Speaking on the launch of the Youth Contract, Nick Clegg said, “The aim of the Youth Contract is to get every unemployed young person earning or learning again before long term damage is done.

“This is a £1 billion package and what’s different about it is gets young people into proper, lasting jobs in the private sector.

Banks missing Project Merlin small business lending targets

New figures released by the Bank of England show the big banks are missing the small business lending targets they agreed with the Government under "Project Merlin".

One of the agreements the Government struck with the big banks under the accord known as Project Merlin, was that they would provide £190 billion of credit to businesses in 2011, with £76 billion of the total to be lent to small and medium-sizes enterprises (SMEs).

Nine months into the agreement figures show the major banks have so far lent £56 billion to small businesses. This means they remain some £1 billion short of target, a similar shortfall to the lending figures announced after 6 months of Project Merlin.

However, the banks are well ahead of their target for the amount of loans made available to large businesses, with some £158 billion loaned to date against the £143 billion goal at the three-quarter stage.

Banks must lend more to SMEs

The Treasury welcomed the figures for lending to large businesses but warned the banks they needed to do more for small businesses. A Treasury spokesperson saying, "It's encouraging that today's provisional results show that UK banks have loaned over £157 billion pounds so far this year, which is 11% above target.

"While banks have lent over 10 percent more to SMEs compared with this point last year, they must do more to ensure that they meet their Merlin commitments for the full year."

The amount of credit available to small businesses has become a major concern for the Government. Small businesses say that it is very difficult to get business loans on reasonable terms and at competitive rates of interest, and that the lack of credit is stifling their efforts to expand. But the banks insist that loans are available to small businesses, it's just that demand for loans is low because of the economic climate.

BofE figures confirm tight credit conditions for small businesses

The Bank of England's September 'Summary of Business Conditions' report seemed to come down on the side of small businesses when it gave its analysis of the credit conditions for small businesses;

"Small businesses and start-ups still found it difficult to gain access to credit, and where loans were available, fees remained elevated and the applications process was often drawn out. Concerns about the withdrawal of overdraft facilities at short notice had led some small firms to run permanent sizable cash balances, inhibiting investment. And contacts in sectors such as retail, which faced weak demand conditions, also often struggled to secure finance."

Small businesses lending

The Budget expands the Section 7(a) program to enable $12.5 billion in guaranteed loan volume in 2005, a more than 25-percent increase from 2004. This will provide financing to entrepreneurs who could not obtain loans without a Government guarantee. Altogether, the 2005 Budget requests $129 million in administrative expenses to support $24 billion in guaranteed lending and equity investments for the Section 7(a) General Business Loan, Section 504 Certified Development Company Guaranteed Loan, and Small Business Investment Company (SBIC) programs. To continue to effectively address the financing needs of small businesses, SBA will: 1) assess the impact and effectiveness of its capital access programs; 2) administer programs more efficiently; and

3) target and expand access to credit. Assess Program Impact and Effectiveness. 

The Program Assessment Rating Tool (PART) revealed that although SBA’s technical assistance programs provide similar education, training, and information services to over four million entrepreneurs annually, standard measures to compare the effectiveness of each program are lacking. To address this finding, SBA is developing methods to measure the impact of these programs in helping entrepreneurs to start, sustain, and grow their businesses. PART findings also revealed that the structural flaws in the SBIC program are based upon a number of factors: 1) the Federal Government’s profit share is not commensurate with its investments; 2) SBICs do not have incentives to repay capital expeditiously, extending the government’s risk exposure; and 3) the methodology for calculating the program’s cost should be reexamined to more accurately capture the risk of subsidizing venture capital investments. The 2005 Budget takes necessary steps to address these issues.

The 2005 Budget also includes a legislative proposal to improve the performance of SBA’s venture capital program, the SBIC program. The proposal would increase the government’s share of profits, increase borrower fees, encourage SBICs to repay principal faster, and minimize the Government’s risk exposure. With estimated losses to the taxpayer of about $2 billion on the Federal Government’s outstanding guarantees of about $5 billion, these changes are necessary to make the program fiscally sound. 

business failures, business services, risk strategies

New data from Experian shows that a regional divide has opened up, with the proportion of business failures in the North significantly higher than the number recorded in the South.

The latest report from the information services company revealed that insolvency rates were highest in the North West (0.14% of businesses), North East (0.12%) and Yorkshire (0.11%), whereas the numbers were significantly lower in the South - with the percentage of businesses going under in the South East, Greater London and the South West at 0.07 or 0.08%.

Compared to October, all regions recorded a lower number of business failures in November, although just over 1,700 firms still went under during the month.

Of the five biggest industry sectors – business services, building/construction, property, IT and leisure/hotels – property was the only one that saw its improving insolvency rate improve - from 0.07 per cent in November 2010 to 0.06 per cent November 2011. It was also the sector to see the biggest improvement from October when the rate was 0.08 per cent.

Although smaller businesses (those with between 3 and 10 employees) have generally managed to maintain lower rates of insolvencies over the past year, they experienced the biggest deterioration in financial strength between November 2010 (an average of 81.80) and November 2011 (an average of 81.04).

Max Firth, from Experian, commented: “The latest insolvency index highlights that some businesses continue to need to assess the risk strategies they have in place very carefully. They need first to understand the risks they are exposed to and then protect themselves from debt that could be detrimental to their business on a regular ongoing basis.”