SMEs Missing Out On EIB Loans

Fri, 12 Feb 2010

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the UK are missing out on loans available from the European Investment Bank (EIB), it has been claimed.

The UK Treasury recently announced that more than £700 million of a £4 billion EIB loan fund had been approved for nearly 3,000 SMEs across Britain.

But EIB vice-president Simon Brooks said uptake of the business loans in the UK has been "slower" than expected.

Stuart Mackinnon, head of public affairs for the Federation of Small Businesses in Scotland, said the banks offering the loans needed to work more closely with firms and that bureaucracy was a turn-off.

He said: "The core issue about a lot of these funds is that they're administered through the banks ."

"Bridges still need to be built between small firms and Scotland's big banking players. Bureaucracy, actual or perceived, and a lack of awareness can be serious barriers to their success."

The EIB loans are administered in the UK through Barclays Bank, Lloyds Banking Group, Royal Bank of Scotland, Santander and Close Brothers.

RBS is believed to have allocated more than 75 per cent of its share of EIB funding, with demand for loans picking up over the past few months.
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