smallbusiness.co.uk: Helping your business think big

A business lobbying group has urged banks and businesses to find common ground in order to stimulate lending and rebuild the economy.
 
Phil Orford, chief executive of the Forum of Private Business, said the time for ‘bashing and blaming’ had passed at a conference designed to bring both sides together in order to tackle the issues surrounding bank lending to businesses.

Orford, the keynote speaker at the Better Business Finance event in Manchester, told the bank representatives, business leaders and company owners present that the time had come to move on and acknowledge failings on both sides in order to stimulate economic growth.

Orford said, ‘We are talking about enabling or disabling our recovery – it's now that serious. Businesses and the banks need to take a critical inward look and accept that the days of easy credit have gone.’

Highlighting the requirement for business owners to think objectively about how they appear to potential lenders, Orford urged small firms to implement a range of measures in order to improve their creditworthiness.

These measures include offering assets as security, methodically preparing business plans and managing both business and personal credit ratings.

Orford also told the banks that, due to their vast resources and infrastructure, they had a duty to 'reach out to small businesses' and 'guide them through the loans process'.

He said, ‘You deal with most if not all small businesses. You have access to them and communication with them – at your fingertips. You have the resources to make a difference. The smallest businesses do not.’

The closure of local branches was also on the agenda, with Orford telling the assembled industry leaders, ‘Many communities continue to experience branch closures – even when the branch is the last bank in town.

‘This disenfranchises businesses from the major retail banks for business transactions and relationships, especially in rural areas. If the banks are committed to serving businesses and their local communities, this closure strategy must come to an end.’