The Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills (Vince Cable)
The British Business Bank has been established as an economic development bank supporting small and medium-sized enterprises in the UK. The wholesale guarantee scheme is a new scheme to be administered by the British Business Bank aiming to encourage participating banks to lend more to small and medium-sized enterprises by addressing the high capital consumption associated with such lending.
The aggregate notional amount of the guarantees issued by the Department under the scheme is expected to be circa £2 billion, with extension beyond this subject to further review. This enables the Department to manage its risk appetite and limit its credit risk exposure.
As a matter of record I have placed a departmental minute in the Libraries of both Houses explaining the procedure followed and containing a description of the liabilities undertaken.
[HCWS348]