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RBS pledges £3bn SME lending

Feb 05 2009

The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has announced it will create funds worth £3 billion to lend to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

RBS, NatWest and Ulster Bank will distribute the finance through 12 regional SME funds, as part of its commitment to increase lending to UK borrowers by £6 billion.

Taking effect today, RBS will earmark an additional £250 million in loans for each of the regional development agency areas in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Products which are being offered under the programme include flexible business loans, invoice finance products that could guarantee debtor payment, methods to release cash from companies' assets and short-term trade products to facilitate imports and exports.

Alan Dickinson, chief executive of RBS UK, comments 'The launch of the new SME funds reinforces our commitment to support our 1.2 million SME businesses locally across all areas of the UK.'

In December, HSBC announced a £3.44 billion global package to provide loans to SMEs, of which £1 billion was allocated to British companies.

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