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Four new Regional Lenders accredited to British Business Bank Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS)

Press release 27 May 2020

  • The FSE Group, FW Capital, Mercia Asset Management and Whiterock Finance to join 70+ existing CBILS accredited lenders

Today the British Business Bank has announced that it has approved four new lenders for accreditation under the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS).

New lenders The FSE Group, FW Capital, Mercia Asset Management and Whiterock Finance will be able to provide financial support to smaller businesses in the Northern Powerhouse and Midlands Engine regions, as well as Northern Ireland, that are losing revenue and seeing their cashflow disrupted, as a result of the Covid-19 outbreak.

Accreditation will now allow appointed regional fund managers to issue CBILS backed loans from the following regional funds – the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund (NPIF) Debt Funds managed by FW Capital and Mercia Asset Management, the Midlands Engine Investment Fund (MEIF) Debt Fund managed by The FSE Group, and the Northern Ireland Growth Finance Fund managed by Whiterock Finance.

Following their approval, each lender will be putting in place the operations required to start lending under the scheme and will confirm shortly the dates from which they will be ready to start receiving CBILS applications from smaller businesses across the UK.

Our accredited lenders have seen an incredible demand for Covid-19 business loan schemes since they became available. Accrediting these four additional regional finance providers means further support for smaller business customers and continues the British Business Bank’s long-term objective to offer more diverse sources of finance to smaller businesses. Keith Morgan CEO, British Business Bank

Government published statistics show businesses have to date 1  benefitted from over £22 billion in loans and guarantees to support their cashflow during the crisis through schemes delivered by the British Business Bank. This includes 40,564 facilities worth £7.25bn through the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme.

The accelerated accreditation process the British Business Bank has put in place for coronavirus schemes means it has been able to increase the number of lenders on the CBILS scheme by 90% since the scheme’s launch, increasing the number from 41 to 78.

The Bank continues to review applications from a wide range of lender types – from PRA-regulated banks, to platform lenders, debt funds, invoice finance lenders, asset finance lenders and responsible finance lenders.

Notes to editors

The Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund and The Midlands Engine Investment Fund are supported financially by the European Union using funding from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) as part of the European Structural and Investment Funds Growth Programme 2014-2020 and the European Investment Bank.

The following lenders have been newly accredited under different variants of the CBIL scheme:

LenderCBILS variantCBILS offer
The FSE GroupTerm LoansThe FSE Group is lending through the Midlands Engine Investment Fund and can provide eligible businesses based in the Midlands with funding from £100,000 to £1.5m.
FW CapitalTerm LoansFW Capital is lending through the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund (NPIF) and can provide term loans from £100,000 to £750,000 to SME businesses with a focus on Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire, Merseyside and Tees Valley.
Mercia Asset Management PLCTerm LoansMercia Asset Management PLC is lending through the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund (NPIF) and can provide term loans from £100,000 up to £750,000 to SMEs with a focus on Yorkshire and the Humber regions.
Whiterock FinanceTerm LoansThe Growth Finance Fund, managed by Whiterock Capital Partners LLP, can provide term loans to smaller businesses in Northern Ireland from £500,000 to £2m.

About the British Business Bank

The British Business Bank is the UK government’s economic development bank. Established in November 2014, its mission is to make finance markets for smaller businesses work more effectively, enabling those businesses to prosper, grow and build UK economic activity. Its remit is to design, deliver and efficiently manage UK-wide smaller business access to finance programmes for the UK government.

The British Business Bank programmes are supporting more than £7.2bn of finance to over 93,000 smaller businesses (as at end of September 2019).

As well as increasing both supply and diversity of finance for UK smaller businesses through its programmes, the Bank works to raise awareness of the finance options available to smaller businesses:

The British Business Bank Finance Hub provides independent and impartial information to high-growth businesses about their finance options, featuring short films, expert guides, checklists and articles from finance providers to help make their application a success. The new site also features case studies and learnings from real businesses to guide businesses through the process of applying for growth finance.
As the holding company of the group operating under the trading name of British Business Bank, British Business Bank plc is wholly owned by HM Government and is not authorised or regulated by the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) or the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). The British Business Bank operates under its own brand name through a number of subsidiaries, none of which are authorised and regulated by the FCA.

British Business Bank plc and its principal operating subsidiaries are not banking institutions and do not operate as such. A complete legal structure chart for British Business Bank plc and its subsidiaries can be found on the British Business Bank plc website.

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