The Small Business Finance Markets Report 2015/16 shows that the market for small business finance is improving, however a number of challenges remain:
- A lack of businesses scaling-up is hampering UK productivity – there remains a need to stimulate a greater volume of scale-up businesses and SME exporters to counteract the UK’s lagging productivity. OECD data shows that Britain is near the bottom of the table for the percentage of businesses that grow to more than 10 employees after three years.
- A need to delivery further diversity in the small business finance market – there is an ongoing need to accelerate the evolution of a diverse and accessible range of finance options to drive competition and choice for smaller businesses. The four largest banks still account for 80% of the small business loan market in 2014, with many small businesses not looking at alternative finance options beyond their main bank.
- Supporting growing SMEs across all UK regions – the finance landscape remains uneven across the UK. To help rebalance growth, an increased availability of finance for smaller businesses across the UK is required. 71% of total SME equity investment is accounted for by London and South East based companies.
