Alliance & Leicester is trying to put together a joint venture with an invoice discounting and factoring supplier to offer a full range of business banking services, although further details on who is round the discussion table are currently not available. The new managing director of Alliance & Leicester, Peter McNamara, recruited from Lloyds TSB this year, is aiming to increase levels of business served through its Girobank small-business division - which will be renamed Alliance Business Banking - by at least 20-30 per cent a year.
This is good news for the big four high street banks HSBC, Nat West, Barclays and Lloyds TSB who have been coming under increasing government pressure for operating a virtual monopoly in the small business sector. The big four control 89 per cent of the market, the Cruickshank review of banking competition found this year.
