Challenger and specialist bank lending reached record high
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£35.5bn
lent by challenger and specialist banks in record year, exceeding lending by the major UK banks
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12.8%
increase in gross bank lending to smaller businesses in 2022 versus 2021, to £65.1bn
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£8.5bn
fall in net lending, in large part reflecting repayment of Covid loans
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11%
increase in transactions in the smaller business asset finance market, reaching a new high of £22.1bn in 2022
Demand for smaller business finance is down
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33%
of smaller businesses were using external finance in Q3 2022, compared to 44% the year prior
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64%
success rate for those seeking loans, sharply falling from 80% year on year
Net zero deal numbers outperforming the wider equity market
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12%
of all current smaller business equity deals are net zero-related deals, compared to just 5% in 2018
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184%
rise in investment value of net zero-related deals over the past year to a new record level of £1.7bn
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36%
of UK net-zero related deals and a third of net-zero related investment value took place in London
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Greater share
of net zero-related deal count or investment value than share of UK turnover from low-carbon businesses in Scotland and South East of England
Innovation required to boost productivity and economic growth
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65%
of innovative businesses use external finance compared to 58% of non-innovators
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9%
of non-innovating smaller businesses cited the availability of finance and 8% the cost of finance as significant barriers to innovation