High street banks are lending more to small businesses, in contrast to Treasury Committee findings, new figures suggest.
Bank lending to small companies increased by £271m in the month of March, according to figures from the British Bankers’ Association (BBA).
The figures show that deposits by small businesses increased by £882m, also.
Over 52,000 small business banking relationships were established in March.
David Dooks, statistics director at the BBA, said: “The stock of lending to small businesses is around 5% higher than a year ago and has risen in each of the first three months of 2009, reflecting general banking support and individual bank pledges to make finance available.”
March also saw an upturn in the number of new small business relationships, which brought the total in the first quarter up to a figure similar to the first quarter of 2008, despite the more difficult current trading environment.
© Crimson Business Ltd, 2009