Businesses applying for finance in the North West more likely to get a ‘yes’ from their bank

Businesses in the North West are more likely to get a loan or an overdraft from their bank than businesses in many other regions across the UK, according to a new survey of over 20,000 firms from across the UK known as the SME Finance Monitor, published by BDRC.

The research shows that 69 per cent of businesses in the North West made successful applications for business finance in 2013, compared with a national average of 67 per cent. Nationally only 38 per cent of businesses who plan to apply for finance believe that they will be successful.

The research also shows that businesses who secure a loan are more likely to innovate, work internationally, grow and make a profit.

Anthony Browne, Chief Executive of the BBA said: “It’s great to see that businesses in the North West are having real success when approaching their banks for business finance. This matters because more successful loan applications mean more innovation, more new jobs and more plans to expand.

“We’ve launched a campaign to let businesses across the UK know that they are a lot more likely to get finance than they think.

“Small businesses are the engine room of the economy and this new research shows how much stronger our recovery could be if more SMEs approached their banks for finance.”

The Better Business Finance programme from the BBA was set up to support businesses and is running a campaign to let SMEs know they are a lot more likely to get bank finance than they think. Across the country only 38% of SMEs planning on applying for finance believe they will get approval from their bank, whereas actual approval rates are a lot higher at 67%.

The campaign aims to encourage SMEs to approach their bank to seek finance and also to raise awareness of the independent Appeals Process that has been in place since 2011 to allow businesses to challenge banks’ finance decisions.