The Corporate Finance Network has reacted to the recent news that Lloyds TSB has so far failed to meet the Government set target of investing in to small, viable businesses.
In 2008, Lloyds entered into a legally binding commitment to lend a much needed £14bn into small business ventures, in exchange for monetary support from the taxpayer. The deadline for this pledge is the end of February 2010, and as this date fast approaches, this target has still not been reached, despite the massive bailout from the Government.
A committee of MPs, the Committee of Public Accounts, has called on the Government to do more to ensure banks begin lending more money to help small businesses get off the ground, with chairman Edward Leigh, saying the bank's lack of lending has caused ‘widespread dismay'.
Unfortunately, this latest news will do little to raise the public's confidence in British banks, with figures from the National Audit Office showing that taxpayer support for the UK banking industry has recently totalled £850bn.
Corporate Finance Network Founder and Chairperson, Kirsty McGregor commented: "I'm not surprised by this announcement, as we have seen that it has taken the banks a lot longer to start lending again than we originally hoped. In fact, it's still extremely difficult to secure lending facilities with most banks, not just Lloyds TSB.
Larger companies appear to be much more in favour with the banks, than most small companies, and we can only look forward to easier times ahead."
