Business: Bank Services

(asked on 17th July 2014) - View Source

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps the Government has taken to promote competition in the market for business banking; and what the effect of those steps has been.


Answered by
Andrea Leadsom Portrait
Andrea Leadsom
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
This question was answered on 23rd July 2014

Budget 2014 set out details of the action Government has taken to support competition in banking and access to finance for businesses, and also detailed a package of new measures to build on these reforms.

This included: confirmation that the Government will legislate to require banks to share more information on their smaller business customers with other lenders through credit reference agencies, levelling the playing field for challenger and non-bank lenders; and consulting on whether to legislate to require SME lenders to release details on businesses that they reject for finance so these business can be linked up alternative finance providers.

The Government has also commissioned a major new biannual survey which allows for a public ranking of UK banks based on the services and products they provide to SMEs, the first set of results of which were published in May, and an independently reviewed Appeals Process is ensuring that SMEs declined for finance can appeal that decision.

Reticulating Splines