According to a survey of 2000 directors at UK SMEs, almost half of UK SMEs (49%) would seek financing from non-bank lenders as they begin to better understand the business models of companies in this space, including fintechs. 

A Leeds-based fintech known as Rebuilding Society, founder Dan Rajkumar, recently said:  “When you are a business and you borrow from a bank that agreement is with the bank and it can call it in at any time. They also take quite a high margin with low savings rates,” explained Rajkumar.  “I created Rebuilding Society to give everyone a better deal.”

Greg Carter, CEO Growth Street, who carried out the research: “The fact that nearly half of British SMEs have looked beyond the banks for business finance is a symptom of profound changes affecting the financial services ecosystem. As more and more SMEs realise that there are real alternatives to the traditional banks’ offerings, I expect this figure to keep rising.